Susie Sharkey

Susie Is my best friend. She’s also a wife, mother, stepmother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and neighbor.   Susie came into my life when she married Ian seven years ago.   She quickly won me over with her genuine altruism.  During this period of time I was struggling with the fact my parents sold my childhood home and she immediately adopted me into her family.  She started hosting a misfit Christmas party so everyone that didn’t have a Christmas party to go to could get together for some cocktails and a ten dollar gypsy swap.  I was taken aback by her culinary talents and she was happy to take me on as sous chef in her personal kitchen.  She’s taught me so much!  Probably most importantly to expect there to be water in a broiling pan when I lift it!  She allowed me to move into her spare bedroom so I could stay on the island after a string of breakups.   I learned even more about gardening, how to raise a dog, wrestling, and the fact that hazelnut flavored coffee mate can be quite addictive.  She is a registered nurse and was forced to give up her career after a stroke.  She has continued to work in the medical field as an in home care giver on the island.  I’m so thankful for the years I spent in her home.  Being 2020, this year has been a struggle for all of us but Ian and Susie were blessed to welcome their recently graduated daughter home.  Almost as suddenly Susie’s health took a turn for the worse.   She was diagnosed with kidney failure, one being diseased beyond repair and the other clotted with stones.  She will need surgery for both.  Her path to recovery has been tumultuous, her disease created unforeseen obstacles that have pushed back her surgeries and called for more emergency hospital trips.  Her family is struggling financially and it pains me to watch from afar.  Please help us reach a $20,000  goal which is only a fifth of the bills accrued so far.  Susie has spent her whole life taking care of other people and would never ask for help, but I can’t  think of anyone who deserves it more.  Thank you.