A tear-jerking photo of an elderly Chinese couple, who were married for almost seven decades, holding hands while both in the intensive care unit has gone viral, touching millions of people across the globe.
According to New China, the photo was taken and shared by Wang Yanfang, the head nurse at Yinzhou hospital’s intensive care unit in Zhejiang Province, eastern China.
The 92-year-old husband, Feng Ming, was originally sent to intensive care after suffering heart failure.
Sadly, his condition deteriorated and more of his organs began failing, before he sustained a lung infection.
Feng ended up not being able to talk, and was being kept alive by a life support machine.
Knowing that he was nearing the end of his life, his family chose to stop therapy and bring him home. Though, he had one final desire before leaving hospital – he wanted to see his wife, to whom he’d been married for 66 years.
Zhang Ping, Feng’s 95-year-old wife, had also been admitted to the same hospital, and was staying on another floor receiving treatment for a fractured femur.
Wang, the head nurse, told New China: “The visiting hour of the ICU is from 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm, but Feng’s condition is too severe to wait till then.” He reportedly decided to make a special arrangement so that the elderly couple could meet for what potentially could have been the very last time.
At Wang’s request, Feng’s wife was transferred on a stretcher from the 14th floor to the ICU on the third floor, where Feng saw his wife for the last time.
Wang recounted the heartwarming story, saying that Feng’s wife grabbed her husband’s hand and spoke to him in their local dialect, saying: “Don’t worry about me. Rest assured that I can take a good care of myself.”
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
Feng was crying when hearing her words, and eventually passed away in the comfort of his own home several hours later. “We made an exception for the elderly couple to meet so that the touching moment can happen and be preserved, I am grateful that we made a right choice,” Wang said.
This story is so devastating and heartwarming at the same time. Though, it is comforting to know that Feng and Zhang had been in each other’s lives through thick and thin, and stayed so in love with each other even until the very end. That really is true love.
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