Valentine's Reunion for Married Patients at County Hospital

Sunday 14 February 2021

We're celebrating Valentine's Day with the heartwarming story of Mr and Mrs Sneddon..

John and Barbara Sneddon are patients at County Community Hospital in Griffithstown and were recently reunited with each other just in time for Valentine’s Day.

John, 91, and Barbara, 89, met through mutual friends and married 23 years ago. Although Barbara needed a week to think about it when John first asked her out, they’d been inseparable ever since. When John was admitted into hospital in mid-December 2020, he sadly had to leave his wife at home, where she spent Christmas alone. Just after Christmas, Barbara suffered a fall and was admitted into Hospital herself- first to The Grange University Hospital, and then to some of our Community Hospitals once she began to recover.

As she arrived as a patient at County Community Hospital, Barbara helped hatch a plan with the Hospital’s wonderful staff to surprise her husband with a reunion after two months apart. Mr Sneddon was taken to the Day Room of Oak Ward, unbeknown to him that his wife would be joining him for a romantic reunion. John was completely overwhelmed and overjoyed to see his wife again, and said that it meant ‘the absolute world’ to him to be reunited with her.

Since their reunion, staff at the Hospital have been helping them spend time together whenever possible, where John and Barbara have been enjoying some of their meals together. This weekend, Scottish-born John was delighted to celebrate the Valentine’s weekend with his Welsh wife by watching the Wales-Scotland game with her (we won't mention the result!)

After both contracting and beating Covid-19, Barbara and John have both received their vaccinations and hope to return home in time for Barbara’s 90^th birthday at the end of next month.

Mr and Mrs Sneddon were full of praise for all the staff who have helped them over the past few months, as Barbara recalled that she had been treated with complete kindness at every Hospital. Wishing you both a speedy recovery, Mr and Mrs Sneddon!

Manager of Oak Ward, Donna Wigmore, and Lead Nurse, Jo Hook, were amongst the staff that helped organise the wonderful surprise for Mr and Mrs Sneddon. Watch this video of them discussing how they planned the Valentine's reunion..

Below: John and Barbara Sneddon, Pictured with Ward Manager, Donna (left) and Senior Nurse, Jo (right)