When someone is coming upon their final days, things can seem very dark and grim.
People who work in hospice care and that field are often tasked with handling the difficult and heartbreaking last moments of a person’s life.
One man was able to bring comfort to a dying woman and gave her one last happy memory.
The Queensland Ambulance Service shared a rather heartbreaking story one of their officers experienced while on the job.
Graeme Cooper and his QAS crew took a detour one day to the beach with one of their dying patients.
The QAS Facebook post began with:
This story told to us by Helen Donaldson the Officer in charge of Hervey Bay is too good not to share.
A crew were transporting a patient to the palliative care unit of the local Hospital and the patient expressed that she just wished she could be at the beach again.
Above and beyond,the crew took a small diversion to the awesome beach at Hervey Bay to give the patient this opportunity – tears were shed and the patient felt very happy.
Sometimes it is not the drugs/training/skills – sometimes all you need is empathy to make a difference!
The post was shared with the photo below, of Graeme and the woman on her gurney, overlooking the ocean view.
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Since sharing the post online, it has received over 75,000 likes on Facebook and has been shared 24,000 times.
Of the 5,000 and counting comments, many Facebook users have replied and shared their own thoughts and stories that this tender moment.
One person wrote:
“I remember doing something similar one night with a young man going back to pal care, riverfire was on and I asked him if he wanted to see the F1-11, knew a place at nearby stafford with a view, opened up the rear doors for a VIP seat of the fireworks, felt very lucky to be able to do that for him.”
Graeme wished he could have taken her all the way down to the water, but the beach was just too rocky. That view and the smell of the salt water was most likely more than enough for this woman, though.
“I thought the next best thing was I can get some ocean and bring it to her,” Graeme told USA Today. “She actually tasted the salt water.”
This is something that will live on for a very long, even after that woman has passed away. Graeme made a huge difference that day, not just for her, but everyone who has since read his story.
Please SHARE this heartbreaking, but uplifting story with your friends and family on Facebook today.
