"Dog the Bounty Hunter" star Duane Chapman shared his wife's dying words in an emotional interview outside his Hawaii home on Wednesday. In her final minutes on Earth, Beth Chapman was selfless and concerned about her family's well-being, just as she had been for so many years.
Before she was rushed to a Honolulu hospital and put into a medically induced coma, where she died Wednesday, Beth Chapman turned to her husband and two daughters and uttered her last words: "I love you" and "are you guys OK?" Finally, she said: "Don't worry," Fox News reported.
Beth was diagnosed with stage 2 throat cancer in 2017. She underwent successful surgery that same year but last year she received news that the cancer had returned. She began aggressive chemotherapy but later decided to discontinue the treatment and seek out alternative therapies.
In April, she was rushed to the hospital with "serious breathing issues" but managed to recover, Fox News noted. Last weekend, she was rushed to the hospital again and was placed into a medically induced coma.
"For a few years we knew this day would come," Duane told Hawaii News Now. "It came really unexpected, really fast. All of her clothes, her make-up, everything. We didn't prepare."
During the hard times, Duane said they both found strength in faith.
"When she had an attack I didn't know anything to do but to say 'in Jesus name' and hold her and when I said 'in Jesus name' she said, 'Say it again, say it more,'" he said, according to Fox News. "One of the last things she said [was] 'It's a test of my faith.' She had faith and that was it."
Shortly after Beth died, Duane posted a tribute to her on Twitter, saying that instead of her usual hike up Koko Head mountain, "she hiked the stairway to heaven."
"We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side," he wrote.