Nurses In Missouri Smuggle Dog To Dying Man’s Bedside

When he died Wednesday night at a Missouri hospital, David King was at peace, his family says. He was in the last stages of a two-year battle against cancer, in that unconscious place between life and death, when his Yorkie friend, Lil Fee, made his final visit.

Their relationship was legendary among the nurses who took care of David. Lil Fee’s photos were on the hospital room wall, and Cindy King’s stories were full of her husband and his dog’s antics. So the nurses encouraged Cindy when she asked if the hospital’s strict no-pets could be bent, and then they told her exactly how to smuggle the little dog into the hospital without getting caught.

Hide the dog in a big purse, they advised, and walk on in. It turns out the nurses are fairly skilled at compassionate deception like this. Another time, they told a California woman to disguise her grandmother’s pet as a baby.

David was unresponsive, but his granddaughter, Ellie, 17. is sure her grandfather knew his dog was there to say goodbye.

“For the first time that day, he moved his arm in attempts to pet his Lil Fee,” she told Yahoo Lifestyle. “It was a moment I’ll never forget.”

Ellie said her tweet of the tender moment has been met with an outpouring of sympathy from friends, family and strangers.

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