PETALING JAYA, May 14 — A heart-wrenching International Nurses Day and Mother’s Day tribute by a doctor in Johor has gone viral, with many moved by the story of a baby girl named ‘Yusra’.

On Sunday, Dr Kamarul Ariffin Nor Sadan shared the story of one of the longest staying patients in the hospital he served at, in a post on his Facebook account.

“Since she was born, until over a year old, ‘Yusra’ has been in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) as she needed to be on a ventilator machine to breathe. It was my duty to tend to the wound on the ventilation hole on her throat and her head.

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“She was always unconscious and never moved. Just like Sleeping Beauty, awaiting her Prince who never came, while accompanied by the dwarves those who watched over her.”

In the post that has garnered over 24,000 reactions, and shared more than 4,600 times, Kamarul said, “We were those dwarves, the doctors and nurses.”

He said family members initially regularly visited, but as the days went by, it lessened in frequency and were far and few in between to the point, they would only come when called by the hospital.

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“Hence the duty fell on the nurses. To feed her milk through the tube in her nose. To clear her faeces.

“And she was given the name ‘Dewi Yusra’. A nickname by NICU nurses since there was no official name registered by the family,” he said disclosing why he felt it was ok to share Yusra’s ‘name’.

He said in his post, on one of his visits, he overheard a nurse talking to the toddler, “Yusra, it’s your birthday today. When are you going to be ok”.

“That was part of the dialogue I overheard one day in the NICU. It was no different in tone than a mother to a sick child in tone, said by a nurse who was changing her diapers.

“A handmade birthday card that was stuck on the bed frame, was full of wishes from the nurses and other NICU staff.”

Kamarul said while caring for a baby in the NICU is a nurse’s responsibility, giving a beautiful name is something personal which only happens when there is love in one’s heart.

“Yusra’s birthday was proof that she was more than just another patient — and that a child that should be celebrated because despite being a year-old, she has never left the bed in the NICU.”

He said nurses had even bought a yellow outfit for Yusra for Aidilfitri, but since Yusra had to wear hospital attire, the outfit was placed on her.

“After over a year, it was time for her to go home. We were all sad, and even officers from the medical social welfare department shed tears.

“She went ‘home’, leaving not just the hospital but this world to meet her creator.”

While the story which was undated, took a tragic turn, Kamarul ended the tribute by saying, “I hope Yusra awaits her mothers at the gates of heaven with a smile. That is all I can pray for the nurses who became Yusra’s mothers throughout her life.”

He ended the tale with wishes for International Nurses Day celebrated yesterday and Mother’s Day which was on Sunday.