A tear-jerking photo of an elderly Chinese couple, married for almost seventy years, holding hands while both in the intensive care unit has gone viral, touching millions of people around the world.
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 in intensive care after suffering heart failure. Sadly, his condition worsened, leading to more organ failures and a lung infection. Feng couldn’t talk and was kept alive by a life support machine.
Knowing he was near the end of his life, his family decided to stop therapy and bring him home. However, Feng had one last wish before leaving the hospital – he wanted to see his wife, to whom he had been married for 66 years.
Feng’s 95-year-old wife, Zhang Ping, was also in the same hospital, receiving treatment for a fractured femur on another floor.
Wang, the head nurse, said, “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 made a special arrangement so the elderly couple could meet for what could have been the last time.
At Wang’s request, Zhang 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 that Zhang 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 good care of myself.”
Feng cried upon hearing her words and eventually passed away at home several hours later. “We made an exception for the elderly couple to meet so that this touching moment could happen and be preserved. I am grateful that we made the right choice,” Wang said.
This story is both devastating and heartwarming. It’s comforting to know that Feng and Zhang stayed in each other’s lives through thick and thin, remaining deeply in love until the very end. That is true love.
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