Cancer Patient Granted Last Wish to See Her Horse Shortly Before Dying

A British cancer patient had a touching reunion with her pet horse in the hours before she died.

Shelia Marsh, 77, of Bickershaw, Wigan, loved horses for most of her entire life. She worked at Haydock Park Racecourse since she was in her 20s, according to the Daily Mail.

When Marsh was hospitalized with cancer this year and given a short time to live, she told hospital workers, friends and family she had three final wishes.

‘She wanted to see her favourite horse Bronwen one last time,’ says her daughter Tina [Marsh], 33. ‘She loved that horse with everything she had. Her other wishes were to see her dog Poddy, whom she had owned for 13 years. ‘And to see me and my father speaking again, because we hadn’t spoken for years.’

A visit from Poddy was the first wish to come true. The dog rested at the foot of her hospital bed. (Dogs know. Dogs. Know.)

Then, on Monday afternoon, staff at Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan arranged to bring two of Marsh’s beloved horses, including one named Bronwen, to visit her in the hours before her death. Hospital workers brought Marsh down to the parking lot where she had one last visit with her special friends. Via the BBC:

[After] a farewell visit from one of her dogs last weekend, she told hospital staff of her wish to see her favourite horse Bronwen, who she had looked after for the previous 25 years. They arranged for Bronwen and another horse to come to the hospital car park, where nurses wheeled Mrs Marsh in her bed.

Infirmary nurse Gail Taylor said: “The horse, Bronwen, walked steadily towards Sheila.

“Sheila gently called to Bronwen and the horse bent down tenderly and kissed her on the cheek as they said their last goodbyes.”

“I was crying my eyes out and all the nurses were crying too,” said her daughter, Tina Marsh. “She took comfort out of it and it was a beautiful moment.” She told Wigan Today her mother had an especially close relationship with Bronwen.

“She had her for about 18 or 19 years from Bronwen being seven,” she said. “It was so touching for us all, it meant a lot to us.”

Sheila Marsh passed away in her hospital room shortly after Bronwen’s visit.

Tina Marsh told the Daily Mail Bronwen will now go to live with her.

But even better, her third wish – that Tina and her father, Sheila’s ex-husband, would finally bury the hatchet – came true, too. “On Monday, the day before mum passed away, we put our differences aside and spoke for the first time in years,” [Tina Marsh said.]