Together in Front of the Sunset, for the Last Time
Devorah and Gad Carmel (85) met when they were in second grade, 78 years ago, fell in love, and became a couple at the young age of 16. Since then, they have not wasted any opportunity to sit together at the beach, and watch the sunset. On Monday this week, they did it again for the last time. Gad is a cancer patient, and Devorah also suffers many complicated medical conditions. Last week, when Gad's condition began to worsen, their two daughters, Michal and Yael, decided to turn to MDA's Wish Ambulance, and allow their parents to arrive one last time to they place they consider heaven on earth, the beach.
MDA's Wish Ambulance arrived to the couple's retirement home, and drove them to Herziliya beach. There, their daughters were waiting with their husbands. Devorah and Gad did not just walk hand in hand by the sunset, but also renewed their vows, after 62 years of marriage, with the help of Ofir Akiva from the organization "Havaya," the ceremony center of the "Free Israel" movement.
"I have never been in such an emotional and exciting ceremony," said Devorah, and Gad added "I don't want to go back to the retirement home. Despite all of the pain, I am having so much fun."
"It is an amazing privilege to make it possible for the couple to arrive to the beach today together, and to fulfill a mutual wish of theirs, for the last time in their lives," told MDA paramedic Neri Katua, who escorted the couple in the Wish Ambulance. "As a paramedic in MDA, I find myself with different people, in difficult moments and in happy moments, but this couple in particular was really able to move me."
