Husband Doesn't Let COVID Ruin Promise to Wife, Stands Outside Hospital Window During Chemo
Since the day that Kelly Conner was diagnosed with breast cancer in January, her husband Albert has shown nothing but love and support for her, promising to be there every step of the way.
However, Albert Conner’s touching promise to his wife became much more difficult when hospitals in the area restricted visitors from entering in order to flatten the curve of coronavirus infections and protect both patients and workers.
“I’ve been to every treatment but this one,” Albert, 44, said, according to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s website.
“And I promised her I’d be there for every step. I didn’t want to break my word.”
On March 30, Kelly’s first chemotherapy appointment alone, Albert surprised her by standing outside of the hospital next to his with a poster that read, “I can’t be with you but I’m here.
“Love you!” the sign said, with a heart in place of the word “love.”
Even though Kelly insisted she was fine to go on her own, she had an inkling that her husband had other plans.
“I suspected he was up to something,” Kelly, 40, said. “He’d talked about driving over and just sitting in the car. I told him not to, that I’d be fine. But that didn’t make the gesture any less sweet. I felt so much love for him in that moment.”
After she left for her chemo treatment, Albert took the homemade sign that he and their three kids made with him to the cancer center in Sugar Land, Texas, where Kelly imagined she would be going alone for her chemotherapy infusion.
He didn’t know if his wife would even see the sign, but he needed her to know that he was going to be there for her, even if it meant from the parking lot instead of the hospital room.
Albert managed to park right outside of his wife’s second-floor window, giving her a perfect view of his grand gesture.
Kelley told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that after she arrived, she received a text from her husband insisting that she look outside her window.
“As soon as he texted me, I just kind of lifted up in my chair a little bit to peer out the window and he was just right there,” Kelly said. “It immediately brought tears to my eyes and I felt a love for him right then in that moment, that he would do that for me.”
“I think I kind of gasped and the nurse turned around and said, ‘What’s wrong?’ And then she saw I was looking out the window and she looked out and started to tear up too,” she continued.
Albert told “Good Morning America” that he and Kelly were both frustrated with the new hospital regulations, but they also understand the importance of the precautions.
“When you just reflect on everything and think about all the nurses and doctors and other patients, it makes perfect sense,”Albert said. “You really can’t argue it. You just have to support it any way you can.”
Kelly’s family is hopeful that the pandemic will be over by the time she is finished with treatment so they can be with her when she gets to ring the bell to mark the milestone.
“I hope the pandemic is over by the time she rings the bell that signifies the end of treatment,” Albert said, according to the cancer center.
“If it isn’t, I might have to bring one of my own to ring outside with her.”
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