Pictures of a horse decorate the room of Karina Courtmanche whose health has declined in recent months. For the 79-year-old Connecticut woman, those pictures bring back happy memories of the horse she once rode.
Staying at Mary Wade Home in New Haven for over a year now, on July 9, Ms. Courtmanche was granted her dying wish to see her beloved horse, Bella, one last time.
Ms. Courtmanche had owned Bella since the horse was born, according to Connecticut Hospice nurse Michelle Walker.
Once a registered nurse herself, who trotted the globe making a difference wherever she went, Ms. Courtmanche had always had a happy, chatty personality.
“She was talking a lot,” Ms. Walker told The Epoch Times. “She always liked to be dressed up all the time, always liked to make sure she had the right earrings on to match the right outfit with her hair done up in a ponytail or in a bun.”
Then in early 2023, Ms. Courtmanche had started feeling tired, sleeping more, and eating a lot less, Ms. Walker, 47, said. “Her body was kind of starting to fail her.” In February, Mary Wade Home contacted Ms. Walker at Connecticut Hospice.
Stepping into her room, Ms. Walker saw the horse pictures and thought, “She’s 79 and got these pictures of a horse—maybe the horse isn’t around anymore.”
But when she learned that an estate had put money aside to care for the horse, she realized that Bella was still alive.
Speaking with some of Ms. Courtmanche’s friends, Ms. Walker learned that Bella was being kept in a barn at Bittersweet Farms in Bethany.
Then another thought dawned. Ms. Walker asked Ms. Courtmanche, “Do you want to see your horse, Bella, again?”
The elderly lady said, “Yes.”
So, teaming up with Mary Wade Home and American Medical Response ambulances, Ms. Walker helped set the wheels in motion to try to make the reunion happen.
As Bella was now 30 years old and no longer fit to ride in a trailer, they would not be able to bring her to her owner. They decided to bring Ms. Courtmanche in an ambulance to see Bella instead.
On Sunday, July 9, Ms. Courtmanche along with her entourage of carers and friends set out to Bittersweet Farms. Ms. Courtmanche had eaten a full breakfast that day, Ms. Walker said, adding that “she hasn’t had a great appetite in a long time.”
They arrived and entered the barn with Ms. Courtmanche confined to a stretcher. Though weakened and tired, she managed to feed Bella a few carrots and appeared to smile happily upon recognizing her horse.
“She was happy to see Bella,” Ms. Walker said. At the scene, Bella was observed giving “kisses” to her former owner, surrounded by friends and staff.
“I was crying,” Ms. Walker said. “There was not a dry eye in there at all. Everybody was crying, it was very emotional.”
Ms. Walker says that, whenever possible, Connecticut Hospice tries to make its patients’ last wishes come true. “I think it helps the patient,” she said. “I think it helps everyone.”
Connecticut Hospice is the first hospice to open in the United States. It was established by the late Florence Wald, formerly a professor and dean of the psychiatric nursing program at Yale University, alongside a group of nurses, doctors, and clergy in 1974.
