A heartfelt photo of an elderly Chinese couple who had been married for over seven decades holding hands in the intensive care unit has gone viral, touching millions worldwide. According to New China, the snapshot was taken and posted by Wang Yanfang, the head nurse at Yinzhou Hospital’s intensive care unit in Zhejiang Province, eastern China.
Feng Ming, 92, was initially admitted to the intensive care unit due to heart failure. Unfortunately, his condition worsened, leading to multiple organ failures and a lung infection. Feng eventually lost his ability to speak and was kept alive by a life support machine. Knowing he was nearing the end of his life, his family decided to discontinue therapy and bring him home. But he had one last wish before leaving the hospital: he wanted to visit his wife, to whom he had been married for 66 years.
Zhang Ping, Feng’s 95-year-old wife, was also hospitalized in the same hospital, being treated on another floor for a fractured femur. Wang, the head nurse, told New China: “The ICU’s visiting hours are from 3:00 to 3:30 pm, but Feng’s condition is too severe to wait until then.” He made a special arrangement so the elderly couple could meet for what could have been the final time.
Feng’s wife was moved on a stretcher from the 14th floor to the ICU on the third floor, where he saw her for the last time. Wang recounted the touching moment, noting that Feng’s wife took her husband’s hand and spoke to him in their local dialect, saying, “Don’t be concerned about me. Rest assured, I can take good care of myself.”
Feng began crying after hearing her words, and he passed away a few hours later in the comfort of his own home. “We made an exception for the elderly couple to meet so that the touching moment could happen and be preserved. I am grateful that we made the right choice,” Wang stated. This story is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. However, it is consoling to know that Feng and Zhang had been in each other’s lives through thick and thin and were deeply in love until the end. That is true love.