Young Nurse Adopts Sick OAP Woman Abandoned By Family

Story By: Juan Mayes, Sub EditorJoseph GolderAgency: Central European News

This young nurse has adopted the elderly cancer patient she is pictured next to and has given her a home after the OAP was abandoned by her own family and left for dead.

Veronica Grossi, 34, started working as a nurse in a clinic in the municipality Carangola located in the south-eastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais 11 years ago.

Grossi carries out frequent house-visits as some patients in the rural region find it difficult to commute to the clinic because of distance or lack of public transport.

Pictures Credit: CEN/Veronica Grossi

During one of her visits, she met Maria Martins Ferreira, 59, and the pair got on like a house on fire, according to Grossi.

The Brazilian nurse said: “When I met Miss Maria, I fell in love with her. It is funny how we are so similar. I don’t even see my mother as much as I see her.”

Maria Ferreira lived with her daughter, grandchildren and son-in-law at the time.

Grossi saw the older woman “receive verbal and physical abuse” from her daughter, and at one point she allegedly slapped her so hard that Maria fell to the floor.

During another visit, Grossi was shocked to find her friend passed out and malnourished.

Grossi said: “I found her passed out at the foot of the bed. At first, I thought she was dead and I panicked, she had no signs of violence but she was very dirty and weak.”

The nurse rushed Martia to hospital where doctors discovered a tumour between one of her lungs and her heart.

Grossi tried to relay the news to the patient’s daughter, but said that she refused to take responsibility as she had “other more important things to deal with”.

Later, Grossi learned that Maria had been living alone for several weeks prior to being found unconscious and so she decided to adopt her, refusing to abandon the woman in her time of need like her daughter allegedly did.

Grossi said: “I told Miss Maria that I needed to speak to her about something serious and asked her if she would like to come live with me.

“She took my hand, started to cry and said ‘my dear, do you really have the courage to take me out of this suffering?’”

According to reports, the pair have lived together since 2018 along with Grossi’s mother and 14-year-old son who also get on well with her.

The family has started a campaign to raise funds to help Maria receive much-needed treatment for her illness.

She is also filing the relevant paperwork to adopt her as her child, according to local media.

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