Susie Ransbottom-Witty

Susie lived in North Carolina and worked as an occupational therapist certified in hand and lymphedema care at Harris Regional hospital. She traveled extensively across the globe doing medical mission work including New York after 9/11, Myanmar, Brazil, Haiti, Kenya, and India. While serving in Haiti following the earthquake, Susie adapted a cup for a three year old child who had lost both of his arms allowing him to feed himself using his feet. The last three years of her life, Susie volunteered at Mother Teresa’s first leprosy center in India, Ghandhiji Prem Nivas Leprosy Center. There she made splints and arranged for the purchase of fifty wheelchairs, allowing disabled elderly residents the ability to leave the building for the first time in years. She was head over heals in love with her husband, Paul Witty, and adored her nephews and nieces. My favorite way of describing her was to say she was a little bit the comic strip character Maxine, a little bit Lucille Ball, and a little bit Mother Theresa all rolled into one. Before her death, retired Colonel Paul Cutting, hand surgeon at Harris Regional Hospital, presented her with an American flag an a “Service Above Self” award.