A Taiwan woman who allowed her husband to visit his cancer-stricken first love to fulfil her dying wish has won much praise online.
The selfless anonymous mother-of-three made an emotional post on the island’s online forum, Baoliao Commune, on June 7.
In it she said she was dumbfounded by the number of people online who had a negative attitude towards their current partners seeing sick ex-lovers.
The wife and mother explained her position by detailing an experience she had three years ago.
Just after she and her husband celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary, he asked her for permission to visit his dying first love who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Her husband explained that the woman’s younger sister had called to tell him that seeing him one last time was the ex-lover’s biggest wish.
Although he promised to not see his former lover if the poster said no, the wife said he should and went with him to the hospital the next day.
She also allowed her husband to be alone with his ex while she waited outside the hospital ward.
The woman then invited her into the ward and thanked her for agreeing to what she described as her “unreasonable request”.
“She was very beautiful despite being ill,” the poster recalled.
The poster also told her husband to visit the woman anytime, and sometimes prepared porridge or fruit for him to take to her, despite the disapproval of her own friends and family.
To reassure her, he never stayed long when visiting the woman. Six months later, she passed away.
At her funeral, the ex’s parents thanked the couple for satisfying her wish.
She said she insisted on letting her husband visit his first love because “there is no warmth at all in being so calculating when it comes to relationships”.
“Why do people always link meeting an ex to nasty things when it could offer a terminal-cancer patient some reassurance during their final moments?” she added.
The poster said she and her husband had become even closer and happier because of the understanding she had shown.
They have also become good friends with the woman’s sister and attended her wedding last year.
The poster’s story left many people deeply moved online.
“You have a big heart and let the dead rest in peace,” said one person.
Another said: “You let me see that true love and loyalty really exist.”
“If we cannot trust our partners, then what is the point spending our whole life together?” commented a third. – South China Morning Post
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