Local Family Spends Special Thanksgiving In Hospital
CONCORD (CBS) -- A special Thanksgiving at Emerson Hospital brought a lot of smiles to one local family.
Eighty-one-year-old Eileen Dempsey went in for a complete knee replacement last Tuesday. A complication meant her stay would extend through Thanksgiving Day and beyond.
With the help of hospital staff and more than a dozen of her family members, Thanksgiving was brought to her, complete with all the fixings - the turkey, the stuffing, the potatoes, the pies, and of course, family.
Holidays are important to them.
"Every holiday we are together so we have this kind of thing," Dempsey said. "To think about not having it was not good."
This Thanksgiving is extra special. It's the first since Dempsey experienced two major losses in late October, just five days apart.
"As it turned out, that night of my husband's funeral services, that's the night my mother died," Dempsey said.
As she recovers from her surgery, her priority is still family. Her granddaughter Malikkah Gamble says not spending it together was not an option.
"I don't think she thinks we would leave her for a second, she's crazy if she does." Gamble said.
Dempsey's daughter Janice tells WBZ, "My mother and I have a very special bond and she's special to everyone in our family."
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