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Discovering that a special ring was missing from her finger while she was hospitalized just days earlier only deepened the pain.
Frances Lang "got the ring from her mom when she graduated Dickinson High School in Jersey City in the 1950s," Diane Lang Van Saders said.
Her mother, who lived in River Vale, was diagnosed with lung cancer a year ago.
She underwent chemotherapy "and her lungs shut down," Van Saders said.
"She was in and out of the hospital all year and then was placed at CareOne at Valley in Westwood," she said. "She then was admitted to Hackensack [University Medical Center] on April 4."
Van Saders's sister was at the hospital on April 10 when, she said, the dialysis techs asked her to leave the room because their mother was having a treatment.
A third sister accompanied Van Saders to the hospital several hours later -- "and we noticed immediately that the ring was gone," Van Saders said.
"We were never able to take the ring off her finger due to her hands being so swollen due to kidney failure," she said. "My mother's mental status was very poor and had not been alert."
Van Saders said she's contacted the hospital and was waiting for a reply.
"This is just so heartbreaking that someone could have done this," she said.
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