Being in a hospital is often unbearable not just for the patients, but also their families.
In those difficult times, the people that we’re able to consistently count on are medical staffs, who work tirelessly to make our loved ones as content and comfortable as possible, whichever hour of the day.
Most doctors, nurses, and caregivers do their best to extend the utmost care they would want to receive if they were to be in a similar position.
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When Laura Levis was at Boston’s CHA Cambridge Hospital due to an asthma attack, she and her husband Peter DeMarco were fully supported by the medical staffs in the hospital. Unfortunately, Laura passed away and Peter suffered from his loss, but he still felt thankful to the hospital staff who treated his wife with compassion and love until her passing.
His letter to the staff, who cared for his wife, was published in the New York Times, and his words hit home to many readers.
Here’s an excerpt of his letter that went viral online –
“As I begin to tell my friends and family about the seven days you treated my wife, Laura Levis, in what turned out to be the last days of her young life, they stop me at about the 15th name that I recall.
‘How do you remember any of their names?’ they ask.
‘How could I not,’ I respond.”
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“Every single one of you treated Laura with such professionalism, and kindness, and dignity as she lay unconscious.
When she needed shots, you apologized that it was going to hurt a little, whether or not she could hear.”
“Then, there was how you treated me.
How would I have found the strength to have made it through that week without you?
How many times did you walk into the room to find me sobbing, my head down, resting on her hand, and quietly go about your task, as if willing yourselves invisible?”
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“When I needed to use a computer for an emergency email, you made it happen.
When I smuggled in a very special visitor, our tuxedo cat, Cola, for one final lick of Laura’s face, you ‘didn’t see a thing.’
“There is another moment — actually, a single hour — that I will never forget.
On the final day, as we waited for Laura’s organ donor surgery, all I wanted was to be alone with her.
But family and friends kept coming to say their goodbyes, and the clock ticked away. About 4 p.m., finally, everyone had gone, and I was emotionally and physically exhausted, in need of a nap.
So I asked her nurses, Donna and Jen, if they could help me set up the recliner, which was so uncomfortable, but all I had, next to Laura again. They had a better idea.
They asked me to leave the room for a moment, and when I returned, they had shifted Laura to the right side of her bed, leaving just enough room for me to crawl in with her one last time.
I asked if they could give us one hour without a single interruption, and they nodded, closing the curtains and the doors, and shutting off the lights.”
“I nestled my body against hers. It was our last tender moment as a husband and a wife, and it was more natural and pure and comforting than anything I’ve ever felt. And then I fell asleep.
I will remember that last hour together for the rest of my life. It was a gift beyond gifts, and I have Donna and Jen to thank for it.
With my eternal gratitude and love,
Peter DeMarco”
This heartwarming letter from the husband for the staff who cared for his wife draws tears from the readers.