Doctors’ suggestions for improving her quality of life inspired Memduh Çetin to create a garden for his sick wife. Eleven years after a surgery saved her life, Mücella Çetin has also regained her memories and forgot her pain thanks to the garden her 80-year-old husband designed for her.
When the story of the couple went viral, the local municipality in the central Turkish province of Eskişehir where they lived rushed to help. On Wednesday, municipality workers brought fresh flowers to the garden and helped Çetin with its care.
"She was really unwell. She has no memory and did not recognize her children. But she is good now and does not have any pain," Çetin, married to his wife for 56 years, said in a recent interview with Demirören News Agency (DHA). "I am here in the garden every day. I feel perfect. It is like I was reborn," 76-year-old Mücella Çetin said as she sat next to her husband amid colorful flower pots covering the part of the sidewalk right outside their home on a street in the Tepebaşı district of Eskişehir.
The elderly woman suffered from a brain hemorrhage about 15 years ago and was partially paralyzed. She also suffered amnesia. Four years later, she underwent brain surgery. Doctors told her husband that she had a chance to fully heal, but she would need more exposure to sunlight and oxygen, along with medication. Memduh Çetin thought a garden would be perfect, but their urban home didn't have one and his wife could barely walk to the park. First, he moved her to the first-floor apartment from his former apartment and fitted the outer walls with iron bars so his wife could hold onto them while walking unassisted. Then, he brought in flower pots and planted little pine trees. Over time, he brought more pots, with a variety of flowers. The couple would often go out to their "garden," a spot that locals have nicknamed Lovers’ Park.
"It worked. These pines and flowers worked. I spent a lot on it, but it was worth it for her. I wish I could afford to buy more flowers for her," Memduh Çetin said. "This garden changed her life and I recommend that everyone have a garden. It smells so nice," he added.
Mücella Çetin says she spends her days in the garden, "adoring the flowers." "My only challenge is not being able to walk without assistance much. Other than that, I am fine. I have a beautiful view here. My husband takes good care of me," she said.