Couple overjoyed after 3-day search for treasured wedding ring lost at hospital ends successfully

A couple from Surrey, B.C., who spent days searching for a lost wedding ring say they're ecstatic after tracking down the man who discovered the family heirloom on the floor of a local hospital.

"There are still amazing people out there that are willing to help you and willing to go beyond and out of their way to help you. I'm so thankful," said Betty Wise, who lost her ring at Richmond Hospital last Tuesday. 

Wise, 45, had gone to the hospital for an MRI and removed the ring for the procedure.

She attached the ring to her wallet, but she says it must have fallen off when she bought a lottery ticket on her way out of the hospital.

She says she didn't discover the ring was gone until she got home.

"Oh, I felt like such a failure. The ring's been in my family since my grandmother ... I just felt like I was letting my whole family down," said Wise, who married Brett Wise in July 2016.

The couple spent the next two days in and around the hospital, holding signs and talking to people, asking if anyone had seen the ring.

Staff at the hospital arranged for the Wises to review security footage and they found video of a man entering the hospital, looking down at the floor and then picking something up.

"I didn't know it was a wedding ring," said Bryan Ghequiere, a Surrey resident who had gone to hospital to visit his 101-year-old mother.

"I thought it was just a key ring or something, so I was going to kick it out of the way. But I decided I better pick it up, someone might trip on it — and lo and behold, it's a wedding ring."

'We all just started crying'

Ghequiere, 73, reported the ring to the hospital's security and left his name and number for anyone to contact him while he kept the ring for safekeeping.

Eventually the Wises learned about the message and called Ghequiere.

"We all just started crying," said Brett Wise about the moment they connected with Ghequiere.

On Friday, the Wises met Ghequiere and his wife Nancy in Surrey to get the ring. The Wises brought flowers for Ghequiere's wife and his mother, along with a card of gratitude.

"We just wanted to reward him and treat him with the ultimate respect ... for finding something and doing something so courageous and so honourable," said Brett Wise, 49.

The two couples ended up talking for around an hour. They plan to remain friends and get out golfing together.

Ghequiere said he was happy he found the ring and was able to return it. He said he did what he thought anyone else would have done.

"Yeah, it was very satisfying," he said. "Lots of times things are found and never get back to the right owner. This was a happy story. A happy ending."