An elderly couple who were married for 75 years fulfilling their final wishes to die together.
Jeanette Toczko, 96, and her 95-year-old husband, Alexander Toczko, from San Diego, California, died just hours apart as they held hands in bed.
But several weeks ago, Mr Toczko suffered a broken hip in a fall and was left bed-bound. A local hospice delivered a special bed to his home, which staff pushed up next to his beloved wife's bed.
As Mr Toczko's condition quickly declined, Mrs Toczko's own health took a turn for the worse. The couple had always said they wished to die 'in their own bed, holding hands, in each other's arms.
The couple's daughter, Aimee Toczko-Cushman, described the moment she told her mother she had lost her husband, who kept a photo of Mrs Toczko at her Holy Communion in his wallet.
'I told my mother he was gone,' 'She hugged him and she said, "See this is what you wanted. You died in my arms and I love you. I love you, wait for me, I'll be there soon".
Mrs Toczko-Cushman, and the couple's other children, Donna Tang, Richard Toczko, Lynne Edwards and Andra Toczko, then left the room, to allow their mother to say a private goodbye.
And less than 24 hours later, Mrs Toczko herself passed away.
'Even the hospice nurse said it was the most incredible thing to see the two of them taking those last breaths together
Meanwhile, his wife doted on her 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
As the couple neared death, in early June, a confused Mrs Toczko reportedly told her children that the date was June 29 - the day she and Mr Toczko would have celebrated 75 years of marriage.
The couple's children went along with it, telling their mother it was, indeed, the anniversary.
'We said happy anniversary, and my mother was thrilled because it was their anniversary and she knew that he was going and that they had made it to 75 years,' said Mrs Toczko-Cushman.
Mr and Mrs Toczko were buried at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego on Monday.
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