AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Time now for My Unsung Hero, our series from the team at the Hidden Brain podcast. My Unsung Hero tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else, and today's story comes from Eric Johnson. In January 2022, Eric Johnson's husband, Dennis Hopkins, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Their days of enjoying music, dancing and gardening quickly turned into a life that was centered around cancer treatments. One day, Hopkins became too weak to sit up and was admitted to the hospital. The couple was told that he'd need another round of radiation, but even with the new treatment, he would only have a 50% chance of surviving. It was during this hospital stay that Eric remembers meeting their unsung hero, a nurse named Sherry.
ERIC JOHNSON: She was something wonderful, like out of a movie, this sturdy woman in her blue scrubs with her pigtails. She turned to both of us and gave us the kindest, most no-nonsense roadmap for what actually did happen in the next two weeks. She looked at me and she said, he's going to want to go before you're ready, but you just have to let him go. Then she looked at him and said, when you're ready to go, it's going to be really hard on him, so you have to be really sensitive to him.
Then she looked at both of us and said, and everybody dies exactly the way they want to. If he goes when you're not in the room, it's because he couldn't bear to have you there. But if he goes when you are in the room, he wouldn't have it any other way. And, you know, that's exactly what happened. The day that he left, I had to come and go from the room a number of times. Then one time when I came back in the room, I looked at him, and I realized something different was happening. I hurried over to him. I put my hand on his chest and on the back of his head. I said, I'm right here. I love you. I'll always love you. We'll always be together. And I just kept repeating that until he stopped breathing.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALIBI MUSIC'S "SOUL SOLDIER")
JOHNSON: If Sherry were standing in front of me today, first of all, I would hold her hands and look right into her eyes and say (crying) I can never thank you enough for what you made possible for Dennis and I to have his death go so perfectly. I wanted everybody in the world to hear what you taught us because everybody in the world can learn a wonderful lesson from what you taught us that day. And thank you so very much.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALIBI MUSIC'S "SOUL SOLDIER")
CHANG: Eric Johnson of Seattle, Washington. Eric and his husband, Dennis Hopkins, were together for nearly 30 years. You can find more stories of unsung heroes and learn how to submit your own at hiddenbrain.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALIBI MUSIC'S "SOUL SOLDIER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.