On Reddit, a user shared a tear-jerking story about his dying wife and her desire to see her dog one last time:
The wife, he explained, had a poor prognosis after an invasive surgery and was in a lot of pain. She asked her husband to bring their Australian Shepherd, Bella, to see her. He fit the 50-pound dog into a suitcase and snuck her into the room, placing her on the bed with his sleeping wife.
“The dog immediately started licking her, and quietly moaned, as if knowing that barking would definitely blow our cover,” he wrote. “My wife hugged her for almost an hour, smiling the whole time. We were busted by one nurse who was so touched that she promised not to tell.”
She died several days after the visit, but the man reports, more than a year later, Bella still gets excited when she sees the suitcase. “It breaks my heart, because I can not properly communicate to her that her Mommy is gone,” he wrote.
We often hear stories of hospitals breaking the rules to allow pet owners to see their companions (or about dogs finding a way to visit their owners on their own). Recognizing that this scenario is all too common, several hospitals in the U.S., and one in Canada, have launched programs to allow patients visits from their own pets. Read more about that here.
