A neurosurgeon in Canada has gone viral for his touching bedside manner.
Dr. P. Daniel McNeely of Halifax, Nova Scotia performed “surgery” on his patient’s teddy bear after the teddy’s owner underwent a procedure of his own.
“Patient asks if I can also fix teddy bear just before being put off to sleep… how could I say no,” Dr. McNeely wrote in a tweet on Sept. 30, which showed him operating on a small brown bear while wearing both a surgical mask and safety glasses.
According to BBC, 8-year-old Jackson McKie was on his way to surgery when he asked if his teddy bear Little Baby could also be “fixed” and the surgeon promised to complete the toy’s procedure as soon as he had finished McKie’s surgery.
McKie, who has been a patient of Dr. McNeely since birth, suffers from hydrocephalus— a build-up of fluid in the cavities deep within the brain.
McKie was repairing a cerebral shunt, which according to Hopkins Medicine is a hollow tube surgically placed in the brain to help drain cerebrospinal fluid, the BBC reports.
However, being that Little Baby never leaves his side, McKie wanted to assure his stuffed animal was also in tip-top shape.
After further examining the bear, Dr. McNeely diagnosed Little Baby with “a tear of the underarm,” according to CBC.
Following McKie’s procedure, Dr. McNeely saved a few extra stitches to use on Little Baby. “There’s always a few stitches that are left over from the case itself and they normally get disposed of,” Dr. McNeely said, according to CBC.
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After being reunited with his furry friend, McKie’s father told CBC “he was over the moon.”
“He was so proud. He had Little Baby laying up in the hospital bed with him and everything,” McKie’s father continued. “It made us feel better about being there.”
Both patients are reportedly successfully recovering.
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