Creatas/Thinkstock(MCALLEN, Texas) — One married couple had a tearful reunion after both being diagnosed with stage IV cancer within a week of each other.
After Susan Stros, 70, was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in late February, her husband Jerry Stros was by her side day and night, their son Jason Stros told ABC News.
“He was at her bedside every day,” Jason Stros, of Mcallen, Texas, added. “Here’s my dad by her side 24 hours a day, never going home, staying there and trying to care for her.”
It was during one of those days when he was caring for his wife of 51 years that Jerry Stros, 71, fell after having a massive seizure.
“And my mom had to be witness to this,” Jason Stros, 38, added.
Jerry Stros suffered from a broken back in his fall and was rushed to the emergency room. It was during that treatment that doctors discovered that he too had stage IV cancer, in his brain.
Still, before the two underwent various treatments for their cancers apart, doctors briefly let them see each other, thinking that it may be their last time to say goodbye. “She was just holding his hand,” their son Jason Stros recalled.
Then doctors separated the two for treatment. It was rare alone time for the couple, who met decades ago in River Rouge High School, outside Detroit.
Susan Stros was finally released from the hospital last week to receive hospice care in her home, while Jerry Stros returned home last Saturday after doctors told him he could receive outpatient radiation therapy to treat his cancer.
Their four children, Jason, Jimmy, Jerry and Jeana Stros, greeted their father when he returned to his Acworth, Georgia, home. And Jason Stros filmed the tearful reunion between Susan and Jerry Stros. That video has now received more than 9,000 views.
“My mom … hasn’t been able to walk,” Jason Stros noted. “But she began walking toward my dad when she saw him.”
The video shows Susan Stros walking slowly toward her husband before joining him on their living room couch.
Jason Stros told ABC News his parents’ love has inspired him.
“When I saw my dad walk in that door, it made me say that nothing in my entire life could ever make me know that I can’t overcome something based on what I saw these two human beings overcome in less than two weeks,” he said, “and still have enough fight in them.”
Jason Stros added, “They don’t know if tomorrow is coming, but they’re not going to stop fighting. Their love is so strong that they’re going to keep fighting this fight together rather than alone.”
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