To love and to cherish: Nurse couple unites to fight virus

Between surgeries one stressful morning, Ben Cayer and Mindy Brock — husband and wife, and fellow nurse anaesthetists — peered through layers of protective gear, and locked eyes.

It was a lovers’ gaze in the most unlikely situation. A co-worker was there to snap a picture.

Now the image, shared on social media, is inspiring people around the globe.

“Everybody’s talking about the photo,” says Cayer, 46.

It strikes a chord “because we’re all going through the same thing right now and it’s a symbol of hope and love.”

Brock, 38, adds: “What’s important is that we stick together, we work together, and we always support each other. And not just Ben and I, but the human race right now.”

The Florida pair share a home, a profession and, now, a mission — shouldering the high-risk duty of placing breathing tubes in surgery patients, any of whom may have COVID-19.

They didn’t think twice about volunteering for Tampa General Hospital’s new “airway team,” Cayer says.

They met in nurse anaesthesia school in 2007. In classes, they sat in alphabetical order. Brock next to Cayer, she says, “and it just took off from there.”

They married five years ago and now work for TeamHealth, a medical staffing firm. But on the morning of the photo, they bickered during the drive to work. They disagreed about what to play on the car radio, and who was doing the dishes at home.

The new COVID-19 procedures — it was Brock’s first day on the new team — were making them both tense.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.