'Heartbreak could kill them': Elderly couple 'forced to separate' after 62 years together
An elderly Canadian couple who have spent most of their lives together were photographed crying after apparently being separated against their will.
Anita Gottschalk, 81, and her loving husband Wolfram Gottschalk, 83, live in Surrey, British Columbia.
The pair fell in love as teenagers in Dusseldorf, Germany, and met while their families lived in the same apartment complex, CTV News reported.
Ashley Bartyik, the couple's granddaughter, took the emotional photo of the couple wiping tears from their eyes on Monday during one of their many visits.
After 62 years of marriage, Anita and Wolfram were separated for eight months "due to backlogs and delays by our heath care system," said Bartyik.
Anita lives at The Residence at Morgan Heights, which is a 30-minute drive from Wolf.
Bartyik told ABC US that she is worried that their "heartbreak and the stress could literally kill them."
"This is the saddest photo I have ever taken," Bartyik, 29, wrote in the photo's caption.
Due to the "system", Anita had to enter assisted living, but she was put in a different home than Wolfram, Bartyik said.
Since then, Wolfram has been put on a waiting list to be able to move in with Anita, she added.
Photo: CTV News">
For now, Bartyik and her parents try to drive Anita to Wolfram's centre at least every two days, so they can see each other, "even if for only a little bit."
"They're heartbroken, they cry every time they see each other," Bartyik said.
"In addition to the dementia, we recently learned my grandfather also has cancer now.
"My grandma needs to be able to spend these last few days with him, not worried about when the next time she'll see him is."
A spokeswoman for Fraser Health Authority, which manages the assisted living residences in the area, said it has been working to get the couple together but space is unavailable.
"We certainly understand how heartbreaking this is for the family," spokeswoman Tasleem Juma told CTV News. "It’s upsetting for us as well."
Juma added that Fraser Health would "continue to work to reunite this couple and hope to do so in the next few weeks."
Meanwhile, Bartyik said she and her family will continue trying to get her grandparents back together.
"They've been together since they got married in 1954," she said.
"They're completely infatuated with each other and have been together in sickness and health. They deserve to stay together."
