Husband uses mechanical lift to serenade wife while she’s in the hospital

Jim and Lisa Tally have been married for 37 years.

ByEric Noll and Allie Yang
May 28, 2020, 7:05 PM

After 37 years of marriage, Jim Tally wasn’t going to let COVID-19 restrictions keep him from singing happy birthday to his wife, Lisa, in the hospital.

She had been receiving treatment for ovarian cancer at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth. It’s been the longest the couple, who is from Arlington, has spent apart.

PHOTO: On Monday, Jim Tally used his company Newport Builders’ mechanical lift, raising him to the fifth floor of the hospital where his wife was staying.
On Monday, Jim Tally used his company Newport Builders’ mechanical lift, raising him to the fifth floor of the hospital where his wife was staying.
Jim Tally

“I wasn’t gonna take ‘no’ for an answer and I had to get creative and see how I could sing happy birthday to her,” Jim Tally said.

On Monday, he used the mechanical lift from his company, Newport Builders, to raise him to the fifth floor of the hospital, where his wife was staying.

“Happy birthday! I love you,” he told her through a window. “I told you I’d go to the moon and I’m not leaving your side.”

PHOTO: Jim and Lisa Tally have been married for 37 years.
Jim and Lisa Tally have been married for 37 years.
Jim Tally

“She’s my best friend and … it took the pain away from her and from me for the day,” he told ABC News. “It brought tears of joy to her eyes and … I love her.”

He joked after the surprise that he was glad he didn’t have to go higher than the fifth floor.

“I would have!” he said.

PHOTO: On Monday, Jim Tally used his company Newport Builders’ mechanical lift, raising him to the fifth floor of the hospital where his wife was staying.
On Monday, Jim Tally used his company Newport Builders’ mechanical lift, raising him to the fifth floor of the hospital where his wife was staying.
Jim Tally

“It didn’t surprise me that my husband would find a way,” Lisa Tally told ABC News.

She is now back home and recovering.

“I love my husband so much and just so thankful for him. And I know he would be there for me through anything,” she said. “They took great care of me at the hospital but there’s nothing like being home.”