Couple Married for 69 Years Die Holding Hands Just Minutes Apart
"They were always in love, literally to the end. To the last second."
These were the words spoken of Isaac Vatkin, 91, and his wife Teresa, 89, who had been married for 69 years before they died just minutes apart at a hospital in Illinois last Saturday, April 22, the Daily Herald reported.
The loving couple from the village of Skokie took their last breaths "peacefully" while holding hands in their wheeled beds at Highland Park Hospital. Family members placed their hands together after the hospital staff put their beds side by side when signs of their imminent death became clear.
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Teresa was the first to go, and about 40 minutes later, her husband followed.
"I didn't want them to be scared," their granddaughter Debbie Handler told the Daily Herald. "I thought maybe if they knew the other was there, it would help."
Family members were at their bedside and bid them fond goodbyes before their hearts stopped beating.
Family members recalled that when Teresa was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Isaac made himself learn how to use a computer just to research a possible cure for his wife's ailment. When his children moved to transfer their mother to a nursing home to get specialized care, Isaac resisted at first, not wanting to be away from his wife.
He finally acceded to his children's request but made it a point to visit his wife in the nursing home every day even as his own health began to fail.
"Their love for each other was so strong, they simply could not live without each other," said their daughter, Clara Gesklin, during their funeral on Monday in Arlington Heights.
The couple's children recalled their parents' beautiful love story. They first met in their native Argentina. Even though they lived far apart, they became close by constantly writing love letters to each other. They eventually married and emigrated to the U.S. where they raised three children.
Although it's not really uncommon for long-married couples or close family members to die in succession, it is rare for two close individuals to pass away just minutes apart, as what happened to the Vatkins, the Daily Herald noted.
When actress Carrie Fisher died of a heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles on Dec. 27, 2016, her mother and fellow actress Debbie Reynolds passed away the following day due to a severe stroke, according to The Guardian.
Researchers call the successive deaths of two persons dear to each other as "the widowhood effect" or "broken heart syndrome."
When a husband or wife dies, the surviving spouse faces a higher risk of dying over the next few months as well, Reuters reported, citing a study at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
Researchers still don't know what causes the widowhood effect.
"It's possible it's a grief-related mechanism, or that providing care for the sick spouse causes illness in the surviving spouse, or that, as one's spouse gets sicker, the surviving spouse stops taking care of their own health," Dr. S. V. Subramanian told Reuters.
Meanwhile, the American Heart Association (AHA) warned that the broken heart syndrome can strike even healthy people.
Women are more likely than men to experience the sudden, intense and sometimes fatal chest pain that can be caused by an emotionally stressful event. "It could be the death of a loved one or even a divorce, breakup or physical separation, betrayal or romantic rejection. It could even happen after a good shock," like winning the lottery, AHA says.
