"I had to do what I could where I could to push the limits and let her know I was with her even if it couldn't be in the same room." Photo / Dennis Cockrell
"I had to do what I could where I could to push the limits and let her know I was with her even if it couldn't be in the same room." Photo / Dennis Cockrell
A man who couldn't be by his wife's side while she underwent chemotherapy due to Covid-19 restrictions has made global headlines for his heartwarming gesture outside her hospital window.
Dennis Cockrell's wife Diana had to go to hospital for her third round of chemotherphy in the hope of getting rid of her cancer.
But due to Covid-19 restrictions, Dennis, from South Carolina, was refused entry to the hospital to support his wife of 23 years.
Instead of becoming disheartened, he hatched a secret plan with the help of his children.
Dennis surprised Diana by sitting on the grass outside her hospital window with signs telling her how much he loved her.
"I'm here and I love you", his sign read, while he sat on a deck chair outside the hospital cheering his wife on.
He then texted his wife and told her to look outside.
"I can't be with her in person in the same hospital room, so the last time we were here she said she could see this particular area, so I got the seed of the idea," Dennis told Fox.
"I had to do what I could where I could to push the limits and let her know I was with her even if it couldn't be in the same room." Photo / Dennis Cockrell
He said the nurses from all over the hospital came to take photos while they cried and waved.
Moments later the nurses then helped Diana craft her own message, organising paper and pens.
She then held up a sign to the window facing Dennis, with the sign reading "I [heart] U."
His wife Diana and her nurses then created their own sign for Dennis to read. Photo / Dennis Cockrell
Dennis stayed outside Diana's room for around three and a half hours.
"Somewhere inside, even though we both understood the reasons why, I guess I just wasn't satisfied with the situation of her being isolated," he told The Insider.
"I had to do what I could where I could to push the limits and let her know I was with her even if it couldn't be in the same room."
Diana was diagnosed with breast cancer at Christmas 2019.
She is undergoing a 12-week chemotherapy regime in the hope of eradicating any remaining cancer cells in her system.
