Terminally-ill Emirati patient has her wish fulfilled, visits Dubai beach on a stretcher

Five years after she actually had a proper sun-and-sand experience at the beach, Fatma Zaal Zaal Al Khamis was actually able to savour the briny air and hear the calming lap of waves at 7am on Wednesday morning at the Jumeirah Beach here from a hospital stretcher.

Tethered safely to the stretcher and assisted by a team of nurses, paramedics and doctors of Prime Hospital, Al Khamis was wheeled as close to the waves as possible as she silently watched the beautiful sunrise and listened to the waves -- her masked face looking blissful, her tired eyes squinting in the sunlight. She whispered Jazzakahllah (may God bless you) to the doctor and the nurses. Her voice, hoarse due to the number of tubes fixed to assist her, sounded happy and calm.