A photo that shows an elderly Chinese couple who have been married for almost seven decades holding hands while both of them are in the intensive care unit has gone viral, melting the hearts of millions of people all over the world.
Wang Yanfang, who is the head nurse of the intensive care unit at Yinzhou hospital in Zhejiang Province, eastern China, is said to have snapped and shared the photo, as reported by New China.
After experiencing heart failure, the spouse, Feng Ming, who was 92 years old at the time, was initially admitted to intensive care facility.
The unfortunate reality is that his condition worsened, and more of his organs started failing, before he was diagnosed with a lung infection.
As a result, Feng was unable to communicate with others and was dependent on a machine that provided him with life support.
After realizing that he was getting closer and closer to the end of his life, his family made the decision to cease his therapy and bring him home. On the other hand, before he left the hospital, he had one last wish: he wanted to visit his wife, to whom he had been married for 66 years.
Feng’s wife, Zhang Ping, who was 95 years old at the time, had also been taken to the same hospital. She was having treatment for a fractured femur and was staying on a different floor inside the facility.
“The visiting hour of the intensive care unit is from three to three thirty in the afternoon,” Wang, the chief nurse, said in an interview with New China. “However, Feng’s condition is too severe to wait until then.” According to reports, he made the decision to make a special arrangement in order to ensure that the old couple could meet for what quite possibly could have been their very final encounter.
At Wang’s request, Feng’s wife was moved from the 14th floor to the intensive care unit on the third level. It was then that Feng saw his wife for the final time. The transfer took place on a stretcher.
In his recounting of the touching incident, Wang stated that Feng’s wife grasped her husband’s hand and spoke to him in their own tongue, saying, “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” Take comfort in the fact that I am able to look after myself perfectly.
Till death do us part: Nonagenarian Chinese couple hand in hand just hours before husband dies in ICU https://t.co/MpdhHUn4OO pic.twitter.com/V8z2Abp4q2
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) January 5, 2017
As soon as Feng heard her words, he began to cry, and he eventually passed away in the comfort of his own home few hours later. I am thankful that we made the correct decision: “We made an exception for the elderly couple to meet so that the touching moment can happen and be preserved,” Wang added. “I am grateful that we made the right choice.”
This is a story that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. In spite of this, it is reassuring to learn that Feng and Zhang had been a part of one other’s life through thick and thin, and that they continued to be so deeply in love with each other right up to the most recent moment. That is the very definition of love.
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