Spectrum NewsIt’s all well and good playing the Meatloaf card, saying ‘you’ll do anything for love’, but when push comes to shove, there’s a lot of things we fall short at. One Korean War veteran is proving nothing will stand in the way of his love for his wife. Not even a long walk down the side of a highway.
98-year-old Luther Younger from New York was picked up on I-390 on Tuesday (August 28) making his regular 12-mile walk to visit his wife, Waverlee, in hospital.
After being diagnosed with brain cancer in 2009, Waverlee is now paralysed, but something as trivial as a long walk beside a busy road is not stopping her loving partner from paying regular visits.
Luther was picked up by Dan Bookhard, who’d just left the airport and couldn’t let the elderly gentleman complete his day’s journey unassisted, Spectrum News reports.
Dan said:
My upbringing; when you see somebody elderly, when you see somebody struggling when it’s raining… I had to pick him up and I couldn’t be one of the ones who would just drive by.
Luther explained why he makes his daily trip:
I ain’t nothing without my wife. It’s been a rough pull. It’s been tough.
Spectrum NewsLutheta Younger, Luther’s daughter, has offered to give him a lift to the Strong Memorial Hospital where Waverlee has been a patient for over two weeks, if he can wait until she’s available to do so.
She said:
My dad’s always walked. He says he does it to stay alive.
He still says, ‘nope I have to get out there to my wife. I have to go.’
Lutheta has now set up a GoFundMe account to help towards her mother’s medical costs and provide transportation for her father to and from the hospital.
Lutheta Younger/FacebookThe doting husband, a Marine and veteran of the Korean War, spoke about the decades of affection they shared together.
He recalled:
She’s the best cup of tea I ever had. She would come in and kiss me and say ‘baby’ and feed me in the bed and this is what I need right here.
Waverlee was given just five years to live when she was diagnosed with brain cancer. That was nine years ago.
You can donate to the Youngers’ GoFundMe page here.
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Tim Horner is a sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated with a BA Journalism from University College Falmouth before most his colleagues were born. A previous editor of adult mags, he now enjoys bringing the tone down in the viral news sector.