Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

AsiaWire

This heartbreaking footage – now seen 14 million times in less than 24 hours – shows a poorly pensioner’s final farewell to his dying wife inside a hospital’s intensive care unit.

Mr Zhang and Ms Wen, aged 85 and 87, were hospitalised within a day of one another last month in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province in south-western China.

According to Xindu Third People’s Hospital where the couple were sent, Mr Zhang suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and atherosclerosis.

He arrived on 16th January, while his wife, an Alzheimer’s patient, lost consciousness due to respiratory failure the next day, and was intubated and put on a mechanical ventilator in the intensive care unit.

As her condition worsened over January, Mr Zhang, who receives treatment in the department of respiratory medicine, learned of his ailing spouse’s declining health and asked to see her one last time, a hospital report said.

On 30th January, Mr Zhang reportedly told his children: “I may not be able to see her again in this lifetime. I want to see her.”

With his doctor’s approval, the elderly husband was placed on a bed next to his wife in the ICU, with footage taken on the day showing what was to be their final farewell.

The pair met at 3:50pm local time, and nurses reported Ms Wen clutching her husband’s hand after having been largely unconscious while surviving with the help of the breathing machine.

The touching video shows Mr Zhang calling his wife’s name, with Ms Wen looking at her husband but unable to speak due to the tubes down her throat.

According to reports, a satisfied Mr Zhang returned to his hospital room later the same day, but his family has so far chosen not to reveal that his wife passed away in the early hours of 31st January.

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