The little boy had a special request after the operation. A nurse’s life-saving act left her parents in tears.

Everyone needs a little comfort or a warm hug when recovering from a major health crisis. Patients who are surrounded by family can access emotional support when they ask for it. But when a toddler woke up after surgery and asked for a hug, a kind-hearted nurse decided to oblige. This incident happened in Pennsylvania, where a 5-year-old Clinton County resident named Slade Thompson was being treated at UPMC Susquehanna in Williamsport, according to WNEP.

Luckily, a nurse named Annie Hager was on duty during Thompson’s treatment and surgery. When she went to check on the little boy, he had a special request for her. The boy just wanted a warm hug from his mother. But she couldn’t be there, so Hager was more than happy to step in and comfort the little boy. Thompson’s mother, Layla, continued to wait outside the cabin for news of her son when she visited him that day after the surgery.

“He’s been through a lot in the last year,” Layla told the outlet. “We had been to Children’s Hospital, so we were a little nervous to go to the hospital to do it.” After the surgery was successful, Layla learned her son was awake. But before allowing the mother to meet her son, nurses had to check Thompson’s vital signs. “When I told him Mom couldn’t be there, he asked me if I wanted to hug him and I said, ‘Sure,’” Hager, a registered nurse at UPMC Susquehanna Health in Williamsport, told the outlet.

Witnessing Hager’s act of kindness, Layla’s concern for her son disappeared. Hager not only did his duty, but also set an example for others in his profession by going above and beyond the call of duty. “You want someone to treat your child the way you would treat them, you know, so every time I turned the corner and I saw him, I looked at my fiancé and we both said, ‘Aww!’ We both started getting teary-eyed,” Layla revealed. “Anyone who works there would have done the same thing,” Hager added. After a while, when Thompson and her mother returned to the hospital, they made sure to bring Hager flowers and hug her.

“I cried, yes,” Hager admitted. “It’s a lesson in humility. » In 2019, UPMC North Central Pa. left a post on Facebook to document this sweet moment between Thompson and Hager and shared two photos from the day of Thompson’s surgery and later when he visited Hager . “When Slade Thompson of Renovo woke up after tonsil surgery, all he wanted was to be snuggled and cared for. Without thinking twice, nurse Annie Hager climbed straight into bed and snuggled the little boy,” reads the caption of the post. “As a nurse, providing care is one thing, but making sure our patients are calm and comfortable is just as important. It’s nurses like Annie, who show true compassion, who make our patients happy. We thank our nurses for taking the time to establish personal connections with patients. »