An Illinois mother shared the kind and clever gesture a hospital made to help her two young daughters who needed surgery.
Haley was “very nervous” about her youngest daughters, 6-year-old Lily and 7-year-old Nora, undergoing surgery.
The mom of three, who also has a 10-year-old, Harper, had never gone under the knife herself, so the operating room was “very unfamiliar territory,” which added to her anxiety, she told Newsweek.
Image credits: hales1537
Lily needed to have her tonsils (oval-shaped glands located at the back of the throat) and adenoids (small glands located higher up, behind the nose) removed to help with sleep apnea and breathing issues.
Meanwhile, her older sister, Nora, needed to have tubes placed in her ears due to hearing loss and to have her adenoids removed.
Image credits: hales1537
Haley feared that one of her daughters might wake up alone in the hospital, surrounded by unfamiliar machinery. She also wanted to make sure she could give both of them equal attention during their recovery.
“Trying to be present for them both was something I was afraid of, but thankfully the hospital and staff were very accommodating,” she said.
Lily, 6, and Nora, 7, needed surgery for tonsils, adenoids, and ear tubes to address breathing and hearing issues
Image credits: hales1537
Image credits: hales1537
Fortunately, the hospital and surgeons agreed to schedule the girls’ operations on the same day to help ease some of that stress.
Lily and Nora were united by the lottery of life as sisters, but they’re also best friends, their mom said.
“They love to dress up and play with makeup; they call it ‘getting fancy.’ They dance together, spend hours coloring photos, and laughing at funny videos is a favorite.”
So, their doctors thought that by scheduling their surgeries on the same day, the close sisters could recover together, too.
Haley described her daughters as “best friends” who do everything together
“They never felt alone and had each other to be with the entire time. When one was in pain, the other would comfort them.”
During their recovery, Lily and Nora ate ice cream together every day, a “fun” activity that provided some relief from the daunting experience of undergoing surgery at such young ages.
Image credits: hales1537
On her TikTok account, @hales1537, the mom of three shared a video of the two girls at the hospital. The clip has since amassed nearly 850,000 views, with users touched by the sisters’ close bond and support for each other.
“When two of your daughters have surgery on the same day and all they wanted was each other,” reads the text overlay on the video, which showed Nora’s father carrying her over to Lily’s hospital bed.
“Thankfully, the hospital and staff were very accommodating,” the mom shared
Image credits: hales1537
Haley told Newsweek that she asked for her daughters’ permission before sharing the video, which she shared to highlight “how strong a bond can be between siblings.”
In the comments, many users shared similar experiences of either noticing how their own children improved after surgery when supported by siblings, or recalling the same sense of companionship from their own childhood.
In an update posted on August 11, the 35-year-old mother shared that both surgeries had been successful and that the girls were doing “absolutely amazing” after completing their recovery.
Image credits: hales1537
Haley said she had been reading people’s kind comments to her daughters. Cuddled up with stuffed animals, Lily thanked viewers for “liking and subscribing” to her mom’s videos, while Nora added that they were doing “much more better.”
Though there isn’t a direct causation between close sibling bonds and good health, a 2019 study published in the Journals of Gerontology found that adults who maintained high levels of contact with a brother or sister reported greater levels of life satisfaction.
The study surveyed 491 adults in the United States, asking about their contact with siblings in person, over the phone, via email, texting, and social media.
The girls later thanked commenters for wishing them a speedy recovery on their mom’s videos
Image credits: hales1537
A separate study, published in the National Library of Medicine, surveyed 608 older adults (64.6 years old on average) and found that sibling conflict and parental favoritism were positively associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, hostility, and loneliness. In contrast, sibling warmth was negatively associated with loneliness.
The study also found that sister-sister pairs had warmer sibling relationships than other gender compositions.
One person joked that Haley should save the videos to show the girls in the future when they fight
