Birthing Death (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781494705701)

Humble beginnings and deep challenges forged this twenty-two year and twenty-seven day caregiver in southeast Michigan. Sue was born into a working class family where her father had an eighth-grade education and her mother was fortunate enough to graduate from high school. Her maternal grandparents were equally from meager backgrounds, with third and eighth grade educations as they were farmers in Wisconsin. Her paternal grandparents immigrated from Croatia's agrarian Istrian peninsula. Tragedy struck early, when Sue's father died at the age of forty-eight from cancer, leaving a young mother and three children from ages nine to sixteen-Sue being the youngest. Education was never stressed for Sue. Yet, she managed to be the first female in her ancestral pedigree to complete college, graduating Cum Laude and Departmental Honors with a Bachelor of Psychology from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan in 1976. She went on to earn a Master of Education/Guidance and Counseling from the University of Windsor, Canada in 1980, and gained Licensed Professional Counselor status in Michigan. During this time, she worked for Focus: HOPE-a civil and human rights organization rising from the ashes of Detroit's 1967 riots, and helped launch the nation's first supplemental food program for seniors who otherwise were perpetually faced with the economic choice of buying food or medication. Then in early October of 1990, she took the aptitude test for law school, not knowing whether her mother would survive the day when her mother suffered a massive stroke at the age of sixty-eight. She was not expected to survive. Thus began Sue's caregiving saga, culminating in this near-month vigil of her mother's last days. From Day 1 of entering law school, Sue knew she wanted to specialize in Elder Law and began a campaign in law school to bring elder law into Wayne State University's School of Law curriculum. She won, when by her senior year in 1999, the class was finally taught. During this time, Sue won the Outstanding Woman Law Student award for her school, and earned a Certificate in Gerontology from Wayne State's Institute of Gerontology and launched her own Geriatric Care Management practice. Immediately upon passing the bar exam, she hung up her shingle as a solo practitioner in Elder Law, published material about determining capacity in Michigan's Institute of Continuing Legal Education, and enjoys riding her motorcycle for down time!