A terminally ill patient told hero paramedics a heart-warming message when they granted her dying wish to see the ocean one last time.
Two Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics took the palliative care patient to see Hervey Bay beach one more time before she passed away days later.
‘I said to the patient (as she looked out at Fraser Island): ‘What are you thinking?’,’ QAS paramedic Danielle Kellum told reporters.
‘And she said: ‘I’m at peace, everything is right’.’
This is the heart-warming moment ambulance workers took a palliative care patient to the beach, while still in her hospital bed, to fulfil her dying wish
QAS posted the photo of Queensland Advanced Care paramedic Graeme Cooper standing beside the woman in a hospital bed overlooking the water at Hervey Bay, a coastal city in Queensland.
Mr Cooper told Daily Mail Australia two weeks ago, the Hervey Bay local wanted to go home from palliative care to die in her own home with her husband.
‘We asked her how she would feel to go by the beach on the way home and she lit up, it was wonderful actually,’ Mr Cooper said on Thursday.
‘While we were down there, we let her look at everything.’
Queensland Advanced Care paramedic Graeme Cooper (left) and QAS paramedic Danielle Kellum (right) took the terminally ill patient to the beach twice before she passed away
But it wasn’t until her second visit to the beach, where she passed away a short time after, on the way back to the hospital on the central coast of Queensland.
The woman was able to see an ocean view from Fraser Island, to the iconic Urangan Pier all the way through to Bundaberg.
‘I got a throw away vomit bag and filled it with salt water, she tasted it with her mouth,’ Mr Cooper said.
‘These things are always special, dealing with someone whose journey is coming to an end.
‘It’s a powerful, moving, connecting moment … I can’t describe how it happens, it’s priceless.’
Hervey Bay Officer in Charge Helen Donaldson said the woman’s dying wish was to visit the beach again, a special place where she and her husband bought a house.
‘A crew were transporting a patient to the palliative care unit of the local hospital and the patient expressed that she just wished she could be at the beach again,’ she said.
‘Above and beyond, the crew took a small diversion to the awesome beach at Hervey Bay to give the patient this opportunity.
‘Tears were shed and the patient felt very happy.
‘Sometimes it is not the drugs, training, skills, sometimes all you need is empathy to make a difference.’
Ms Donaldson thanked paramedics Mr Cooper and Ms Kellum for their ‘great work’.
Mr Cooper told Daily Mail Australia moments like this were always special, however Ms Kellum said the reason she took the photo was to share how Mr Cooper always goes ‘above and beyond’ for patients.
Ms Donaldson thanked paramedics Graeme and Danielle for their ‘great work’
‘To see the spark in her eye, the gratitude they give you … they haven’t been in the sun for a long time and letting them have ten minutes of sunshine means the world to them and they thank you for it,’ he said.
The post has garnered an overwhelming amount of attention, attracting more than 18,000 likes and another 5,000 comments in five hours.
Mr Cooper, who has been with QAS for 27 years, said he was overwhelmed by the response and never expected any of this.
The post was also littered with comments in support of the ‘beautiful’ gesture.
‘What a beautiful yet sad story but one that highlights everything good about our community,’ one woman said.
‘Oh my goodness what an incredible gift you gave this patient. Has warmed my heart and brought tears to my eyes – so incredibly proud,’ a second said.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Thursday, QAS’ spokesman Michael Augustus said the service was ‘blown away by the response’.
‘It’s so lovely that a really simple act of kindness, something that the paramedics just did, made this lady’s day,’ Mr Augustus said.
‘It cost them nothing but five minutes of their time.
‘These paramedics certainly deserve some recognition, but we’ve just been gobsmacked by the support.’