A loving and faithful wife from Florida is inspiring us all with what she did to be close to her husband with Alzheimer’s.
The woman took up a job as a dishwasher at the Florida Memory Care Unit just so that she could see her husband every day.
Mary Daniel visited her husband Steve, who has Alzheimer’s, every day at the assisted living facility until they stopped visitors in March because of COVID-19.
It meant that they had to spend 114 days apart from each other which took a toll on her 66-year-old husband.
So when the facility offered a part-time dishwashing job, she jumped at the opportunity. “I told them, ‘I’m gonna be the best dishwasher you’ve ever had because I want to be here because I need to be with him,'” she said.
Before the coronavirus kicked in, Mary used to help tuck her husband into bed every night and they would watch TV together before she tucked him in. “That was our set routine and then all of a sudden I’m gone,” she said. “And he doesn’t know why. He can’t understand why.”
They tried window visits and Facetime, but her husband wasn’t able to cope with conversations and they ditched the idea.
Mary worked her first shift on July 3, and said Steve recognized her, even with her mask on. “I walked into his room and he said my name, he said Mary, which was also a relief,” she said. “So when he said, Mary, and gave me the biggest hug, I mean, we both cried.”
Mary understands the COVID-19 rules, but she thinks they could be a better way out. “It’s incredibly sad to see that these patients are significantly declining because they are isolated,” she said. “We are isolating these patients to save them, but the isolation is killing them.”
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