On Saturday, April 3, Sue Macco died peacefully at her home with her husband John at her side. She was 65. She is preceded in death by her parents Jack and Doris Noel and father-in-law Jim Macco. She leaves her husband John of 42 years, their sons Michael 39, Nicholas 35, daughters in law, Beth and Ashley, and six grandchildren: Hazel, Ethan, Rowan, Grayson, Ezra and Jasper. Her siblings, Michael (Barbara), Roger, Jerry (Hongyu), Nancy and nieces and nephews.
Sue is a 1974 graduate of Southwest High School in Green Bay and graduated from Mercy Medical School of Nursing in 1979. She went on to complete the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner program at St. Vincent and Aurora in Green Bay, then the Pediatric Orthopedic Nurse Clinician program at Marshfield Clinic. She had a heart for infants and children, remarking, “Children are better patients, if they cry, they cry for a reason.”
She worked in pioneering programs in foster care for ventilator dependent children, Ilizarov external fixators, established a computerized gate lab, a scoliosis clinic and reached hundreds of children across Wisconsin over three decades.
She traveled to Burma to work in an Orphanage, volunteered with Convoy of Hope, supported anti human trafficking programs locally and globally, as well as various other humanitarian efforts.
In April of 2007 Sue was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. Frustrated by addressing symptoms, Sue began researching root causes of disease. She’d often say, “disease is spelled, dis-ease, there is something systemic that is not functioning properly, why is that?” She charted a path blending traditional and nontraditional into functional medicine. She beat all the warnings and diagnoses, and never turned back. It was that year she left traditional medicine and started her own practice, NurseForHealth.com. She continued her education becoming a digestive health specialist, completed courses is Systemic Enzyme protocols, drug interactions, nutrition, and hormonal imbalances.
Whether at the Grand Hotel, the English Rose, London, England or her own patio, Sue loved tea parties. Sunflowers are her favorite flower. She was an accomplished photographer and took up the flute in 2019. In 2020 when it was getting too hard to blow her flute, she bought a piano and started lessons. She taught herself HTML coding, can pilot a boat across Lake Michigan, loved to tool around on her Vespa or go along on long Harley rides. She was small in stature but big in tenacity. Unassuming but never intimidated.
In February 2020, Sue contracted pneumonia and discovered the cancer had returned. She beat the pneumonia and continued to beat the odds. She had a very enjoyable summer going on trips, practicing her photography, traveling, visiting family, going on motorcycle and Vespa rides and even a trip to Florida just last month. Sue visited with longtime friends, was intentional in handing off her practice and seeing that her clients received continued care. She had nothing on her Bucket List, she was confident that she had faithfully used all her gifts and ran through the tape. She was comfortable in her salvation and selfless in the end continuing to pray for her family, friends and associates even in the midst of her own challenges.
“She believed she could, so she did”.
Visitation will be from 10am to noon Saturday, April 10, Celebration of her life service at noon, luncheon tea party at 1:00 pm, at Celebration Church, 3475 Humboldt Road, Green Bay. Online condolences may be sent to the Macco family at www.prokowall.com
Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to The Sunflower Project, 1138 Main Street, Green Bay, 54301, as a memorial to establish a fund in Sue’s name to provide financial assistance to women facing similar health challenges.