Little boy had a special request for his mother after surgery – then a kind on-duty nurse stepped up

Everyone needs a little comfort or a warm hug when they are in the process of recovering from a major health crisis. Patients who have their families around can get access to some emotional support when they ask for it. But when a little kid woke up from surgery and asked to get a snuggle, a kind-hearted nurse decided to comply. This incident took place in Pennsylvania where a 5-year-old Clinton County resident named Slade Thompson was getting treated at the UPMC Susquehanna in Williamsport, per WNEP.

Thankfully, a nurse named Annie Hager was on duty during Thompson's treatment and surgery. When she went to attend to the little boy, he had a special request for her. The boy just wanted a warm snuggle from his mother. But she couldn't be there so Hager was more than happy to become a substitute and comfort the little boy. Thompson's mother Layla continued to wait for updates on her son outside the cabin when she visited him that day after surgery.

"He’s been through a lot this last year," Layla told the outlet. "We had been in the children’s hospital, so we were kind of nervous just going to a hospital to have it done." After the surgery was successfully carried out, Layla was told that her son was awake. But before they could allow the mother to meet her son, the nurses had to check Thompson's vital signs. “When I told him mom couldn’t be there, he asked if I would snuggle him and I said, ‘Sure will,'" Hager, who is a registered nurse at UPMC Susquehanna Health in Williamsport, told the news outlet.

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

“I cried, yeah,” Hager admitted. “It’s humbling." In 2019, the UPMC North Central Pa. left a post on Facebook to document this sweet moment between Thompson and Hager and shared two pictures from the day of Thompson's surgery and later when he visited Hager. "When Slade Thompson of Renovo woke up from tonsil surgery, all he wanted was to be snuggled and cared for. Not thinking twice, Annie Hager, RN, climbed right into the bed and snuggled the little boy," the caption on the post read. "As a nurse, providing care is one thing, but making sure our patients are calm and comfortable matters just as much. It’s nurses like Annie – who show true compassion – that keep our patients happy. We thank our nurses for taking the time to make personal connections with patients."

This article originally appeared 3 months ago.