A husband sat outside a hospital window for hours with signs telling his wife he loved her as she underwent chemo

• A devoted husband who couldn't be with his wife while she underwent chemo surprised her by sitting outside her window on the grass.
• Dennis Cockrell couldn't be by Diana's side due to coronavirus restrictions, so instead, he held up a sign outside her window that read "I'm here & I [heart] U."
• He told Insider that Diana was completely surprised, the nurses were in tears, and she quickly wrote a sign back to say she loves him too.
• "I had to do what I could where I could to push the limits and let her know I was with her even if it couldn't be in the same room," Dennis said.
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When Diana Cockrell went into the hospital for her third round of chemotherapy on Monday, her husband Dennis wasn't allowed to come in with her due to coronavirus restrictions.

But just because he couldn't be with his wife of 23 years physically didn't mean Dennis wouldn't do everything he could to stand with her during the infusion.

So Dennis surprised Diana by sitting on the grass outside her window at Bon Secours St. Francis Cancer Treatment Center in Greenville, South Carolina with huge signs letting her know he loved her.

"I guess I just wasn't satisfied with the situation of her being isolated," Dennis told Insider.

Diana was diagnosed with breast cancer at Christmas 2019. In January, she underwent bilateral lumpectomy surgery, but cancer was found in her lymph nodes, making her diagnosis Stage 3B, Dennis explained.

So in March, Diana began a 12-week chemotherapy regimen in the hope of eradicating any remaining cancer cells lingering in her system.

Diana has three weeks to recover between infusions, and this Monday's was the third of four.

Dennis was allowed to be with his wife physically at her first infusion, but by the second one, the hospital had brought in new social distancing rules due to COVID-19.

The closest Dennis could get was the parking lot.

Each time Diana goes into hospital for an infusion, she's there for five to six hours in total, and on her second visit, she texted her husband to say she had a room with a window and could see outside.

Dennis decided to drive around in the car until he spotted her, then she let him know she could see him too, and Dennis hatched a plan for the next infusion.

"I noticed a grassy patch just outside this area of the hospital and decided that at the next (third) visit I would bring a lawn chair and sit there so that she could at least see me and know that I was there," he said.

But not only did Dennis decide he would sit there, he wanted to surprise his wife with a thoughtful message: "I'm here & I [heart] U."

"The night before her recent visit, I got my kids [Kate, Carly, and Collier] to help make the signs while I kept Diana distracted," he said.

"We hid them in the car, and once Diana went in for her infusion the next morning, I set up the area outside her window.

"Once I knew she was in the room, I texted her to look outside.

"Needless to say our plan worked and she was surprised. Nurses from all over the hospital began coming to the windows and crying and waving and taking photos."

Diana smiled and immediately called her husband from her hospital room. Mere moments later, the nurses had helped her make her own sign to send a message back: "I [heart] you," it read.

Dennis stayed outside Diana's room for around three and a half hours, and, weather permitting, he hopes to do the same for her final infusion if he still can't be in the hospital.

The devoted husband said that his aim was simply "to make Diana smile and feel like she wasn't alone in there."

"Somewhere inside, even though we both understood the reasons why, I guess I just wasn't satisfied with the situation of her being isolated," he said.

"I had to do what I could where I could to push the limits and let her know I was with her even if it couldn't be in the same room."

Dennis describes Diana as his "everything."

"She is part of me and when we have to separate like this it feels like my body is outside on that grass but my heart is in that room," he said.

"She is everything that's good about me."