By Slade Thompson, who was 5 at the time, hadn’t had the best year. He had gone to the UPMC Susquehanna hospital in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for his second surgery. His most recent visit was to have his tonsils removed.
Layla, Slade’s mother, sat nervously in the waiting room as her son underwent his procedure. She was worried about him and only wanted him to feel safe and cared for. Needless to say, she couldn’t wait to get him out of the hospital and back into his own bed.
When Slade woke up from surgery, the nurses had to check his vitals before allowing Layla into his room.
Annie Hager, RN, one of his nurses, told Slade that it wasn’t quite time for his mother to be there with him — and that’s when he asked her for a favor.
When Layla walked into Slade’s room, she saw something that moved her so much that she had to take photos of it. The image went viral after being shared on Facebook, garnering thousands of views.
“As a nurse, providing care is one thing, but making sure our patients are calm and comfortable matters just as much,” the staff at UPMC wrote on Facebook. “It’s nurses like Annie — who show true compassion — that keep our patients happy.”
