A devoted husband captured in a touching video saying goodbye to his wife of 30 years as she lay dying of COVID-19 has also succumbed to the virus.
A devoted husband captured in a touching video saying goodbye to his wife of 30 years as she lay dying of COVID-19 has also succumbed to the virus. Sam Reck, 90, was warned that he was putting himself at risk, but nothing would deter him from going to visit his wife Joanne.
"I love you sweetheart. I love you so much!" Sam said. "You don't recognize me with all this junk on my face, but it is Sam."
He was given PPE as he sat at her bedside at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center in Florida, holding her hand one last time.
"I'm finally getting to hold your hand after all these months. Feel me squeezing your hand? Squeezing your hand," Sam said.
Joanne smiled and squeezed back.
Before she was stricken, Joanne would be taken to Sam's nursing home where Sam spoke to her from the balcony. They were even dubbed "Romeo and Juliet."
Despite all the precautions, Sam developed a fever days after his last visit. He tested positive for COVID-19. Over the weekend, his family announced that he died in the very same room that Joanne died just weeks ago.
"He knew that it was dangerous for him to go in there, but he could not live with himself not seeing her," his stepson told Inside Edition.
RELATED STORIES
