A Lake Cowichan man is heartbroken at the loss of his wedding ring in Cowichan District Hospital. Seventy-year-old Fred Neault was admitted to emergency wearing the gold band, but when he came out of the hospital on Wednesday he was shocked to learn it was gone. Skye Ryan reports
Fred Neault breaks down in tears, talking about his loss. His most precious belonging his wedding ring was gone from his hand when he woke up in Cowichan District Hospital.
“I was shocked, depressed and mad,” said the Lake Cowichan man. “I’ve had that ring 16 years when we first met and I treasured that bloody thing. It’s never left me until now,” said Neault.
He hasn’t told his 89-year-old wife Connie fearing, he says, that it will break her heart.
” I just want the bloody ring back,” said Neault. “That’s all that matters to me,” he said.
It all started when the Lake Cowichan man was rushed to Cowichan District Hospital on Friday having a respiratory attack. The former military man has had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease for 20 years and he says this time, hospital staff did something unusual when he was brought in.
“I don’t even remember them doing it, they took all my clothes off, shoes, socks, underwear the whole lot,” said Neault. “My watch and the ring and it’s very unusual they take wedding rings off.”
When he was released from the hospital Wednesday, he asked about his ring, a gold band with two horseshoes on it. He was told it was among his clothing, but Neault says it wasn’t. When he left the hospital, he did so without his precious ring, fearing he may never see it again.
“Because they searched the hospital,” said Neault tearfully.
In a statement to CHEK News, Island Health said:
“We understand and appreciate the significance and value of the missing ring and we are actively working with the patient, our staff and the RCMP in an effort to locate it. There was no clinical reason to remove a ring or any evidence of a ring on the patient at the hospital in our records,” the statement continued.
“Well either they misplaced it or somebody took it; it’s one or the other,” said Neault. “It didn’t grow legs and walk out of the bloody hospital.”
So Fred Neault is now facing telling his 89-year-old wife his wedding ring is gone, while hoping against the odds, it somehow turns up.
Skye Ryan
