Tears filled this nursing home room when a 90-year-old man from Florida came dressed in protective gear to say his goodbyes to his wife before she died due to covid-19.
The man, Sam Reck, from Lakeland, Florida spent 4 months apart from his wife JoAnn Reck with whom he had been married for 30 years due to a ban on visitors in nursing homes.
The staff called them Romeo and Juliet because Sam would sit on his second-floor balcony and JoAnn who was 86 would talk to him from the garden below, said JoAnn’s son, Scott Hooper.
He Risked His Life, but Said Goodbye to His 30-Year Partner
Sam risked his own fragile health to see his wife once more before she passed away.
Hooper said Sam knew he was risking his own life to see her, but this was his choice and his freedom to do it.
JoAnn was diagnosed with dementia approximately a year ago and she caught covid-19 and developed fatigue, cough, and a fever.
Unfortunately, the disease was hitting her hard. Although visitors remain prohibited in hospitals and nursing homes, some exceptions, like in situations of end-of-life, are being made.
Hopper said that there was no dry eye in the room as the couple was saying their goodbyes.
Hooper said that his wife caught the emotional goodbye on camera and he remembers how everyone cried. He looked at his wife and she was also crying and couldn’t even hold the camera.
It was such an emotional moment, recalls Hooper.
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