INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — With slow-going traffic on the roads, home health and hospice nurses couldn’t make it to see all the patients they would normally see. Crossroads Hospice visited those with the highest needs.

It isn’t hard for Karen Owen to take steps up a snowy driveway. It isn’t hard for her to drive from Lee’s Summit to Independence in the snowstorm. Not when Owen knows who she is helping.

“He’s amazing, and that’s why she’s lived as long as she has,” said Owen.

The nurse with Crossroads Hospice has come to see Peggy Henderson and her husband, Terry. Peggy Henderson’s body is ravaged by multiple sclerosis.

“Peggy is a very fragile patient. She is at high risk for aspiration and pneumonia. She cannot swallow,” said Owen.

Incredibly, Peggy Henderson has lived six years since she started receiving hospice care — end-of-life care.

The nurse says there’s no doubt Henderson has lived this long because of her husband. He says the nurse didn’t have to come on this snowy day.

“I always tell them not to come out if it’s bad ’cause we’re in cruise control. Doing good,” said Henderson.

But Owen knows Henderson deserves the support and reassurance that his wife of 40 years is stable and comfortable. He admits he needs the conversation, too, since his wife can no longer speak.

“The loss of communication. That’s what really hurts. There’s somebody to talk to. They’re really as much for me as they are for her,” said Henderson.

Someone he can count on. Sunny days or snowy ones. In return, the hospice nurse gains inspiration.

“To meet someone as wonderful as Terry — he inspires me,” said Owen.

To keep going. To keep on caring.

The hospice nurse saw one other patient on Tuesday. She would ordinarily see five.