A photo of an elderly Chinese couple, married for nearly seven decades, holding hands in the intensive care unit has spread like wildfire, touching the hearts of millions around the globe.
According to New China, Wang Yanfang, the head nurse of the intensive care unit at Yinzhou Hospital in Zhejiang Province, eastern China, took and shared this photo.
After suffering heart failure, Feng Ming, 92 years old at that time, was first admitted to the intensive care facility.
Sadly, his condition deteriorated, with more organs starting to fail, and he was then diagnosed with a lung infection.
As a result, Feng was unable to communicate and relied on a life-support machine.
Realizing he was nearing the end of his life, his family decided to stop his treatment and take him home. But before leaving the hospital, he had one last wish: to see his wife, with whom he had been married for 66 years.
Feng’s wife, Zhang Ping, 95 years old then, was also in the same hospital, being treated for a fractured femur on a different floor.
“The visiting hour of the intensive care unit is from three to three thirty in the afternoon,” Nurse Wang said in an interview with New China. “But Feng’s condition was too serious to wait until then.” Reports suggest that she made a special arrangement to ensure the old couple could have what might be their final meeting.
At Wang’s request, Feng’s wife was moved from the 14th floor to the intensive care unit on the third floor on a stretcher. That’s when Feng saw his wife for the last time.
Recounting the moving incident, Wang said Feng’s wife held her husband’s hand and told him in their local dialect, “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I can take good care of myself.”
Hearing her words, Feng started to cry and passed away a few hours later at home. “We made an exception for the elderly couple to meet so that this touching moment could happen and be remembered,” Wang added. “I’m glad we made the right choice.”
This is a story that’s both heartrending and heartwarming. Still, it’s comforting to know that Feng and Zhang had been through everything together and remained deeply in love until the very end. That’s what true love is.
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