Queensland ambulance officers allow Fraser Coast man‘s dying wish

A grieving son has thanked Queensland ambos for their kindness which allowed his dad to fulfil his dying wish of seeing his wife on last time.

A grieving son has labelled a pair of Queensland paramedics “angels” through tears for allowing his dying dad to say a final goodbye to his wife.

Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics Allan, Samantha and Joshua were transporting terminally ill man Danny Rowland back to his Torbanlea home, on the Queensland Fraser Coast, last weekend when they overheard him talking about his wife, Shirley.

Danny had been speaking to his son Ricky, who was in the back of the ambulance with his father and Samantha, before the ambos decided to take a pit stop on Danny’s route home.

Queensland Paramedic Sam and Ricky Rowland speaking to Sunrise on Tuesday morning. Picture: supplied.

“Dad got his treatment at the hospital and he said ‘where are we going now’ and I told him the ambulance is going to make a detour. We’re going to go around and see mum and say hello and goodbye,” he told Sunrise.

“It just meant the absolute world to him, he couldn’t believe it. He said ‘can they do that?’ and I said yeah Dad they’re ambulance people.

“They are absolute angels.”

It was not a straightforward stop, and Sam had to use all her nous to make sure the married couple could say goodbye one last time.

The post, from the Queensland Ambulance Service, shared the moving story of Danny Rowland, who was dying of cancer, and how the team helped him hold his wife's hand for the final time.

“I figured if he (Danny) couldn’t go in there (Shirley’s nursing home) we had to bring her out to him. I went and had a chat to the nurse there and persuaded her and we pushed Shirley out on a bed,” she said.

“We didn’t break any rules, we just popped them next to each other so they could say goodbye.”

A few days later, Mr Rowland passed away, “comforted by the memory of holding his wife’s hand and a promise his love would last forever”.

More than 1200 people have commented, sharing their condolences and praising the paramedics on the social media post about the act, which was shared 1700 times in less than 24 hours.

“This is just such a beautiful gesture by these superheroes. Thank you for being so human to this elderly gentleman and his wife,” one person wrote.

Originally published as Queensland ambulance officers allow Fraser Coast man‘s dying wish