Husband held ‘I ❤️ U’ sign outside wife’s hospital room every day while she had COVID-19

By Fiona Jackson via SWNS

A loving husband showed up every day to the hospital his wife was in while she had COVID to wave an 'I <3 U' sign outside her window.

Donna Crane, 56, was taken to the ICU at Advent Hospital after contracting coronavirus and suffering from acute respiratory failure.

Partner Gary Crane, 61, couldn't go into her room to comfort her as she had to isolate, so he came up with a creative way to show her just how much he cared.

"It made me feel loved and I knew I was going to be OK and go home,” said Donna, from Port Orange, Florida.

"He said he felt helpless not being able to be with me and that he did not want me to be scared or feel isolated."

Donna tested positive for COVID on August 15 after experiencing a raised temperature and head and body aches.

Her symptoms worsened to the point where she was in full respiratory failure, and fireman Gary rushed her to the emergency room on her 56th birthday.

Before she was transferred to the hospital via ambulance, she had to say goodbye to her husband, not knowing when she would see him next.

"It was terrible,” Donna said.

"We have never been apart for that long - ever.

"I was afraid of having to be on a vent and that I would die."

On her first morning in the ICU, Donna received a phone call from Gary telling her to look outside.

Sure enough, her husband stood in the parking lot holding a huge sign made from construction paper, upon which he had written 'I <3 U'.

The mom-of-two was overcome with emotions and burst into tears after nurses helped her up to see it.

Gary showed up every day at 8 a.m. and even brought breakfast for the nurses before going to work as a lieutenant at Marion County Fire Rescue.

Even on the tenth and final day the sign didn't lose its effect and helped motivate Donna throughout her recovery.

"When I was discharged and came out to see him it was amazing, just to touch his hand,” said the catering sales manager.

"We had peach milkshakes, that is as crazy as I can get right now!"

She now keeps the sign on her bedroom wall to remind herself of how much she's loved and wants to use Gary's kindness to remind everyone to get vaccinated.