Singaporean actress Sheila Sim recalled the heart-warming gesture of a nurse many years ago, when she found a plush bunny while sorting her belongings at home recently.
“Thirty-one years ago, my only brother, battling leukaemia, needed a bone marrow transplant to survive,” Sim wrote on social media on Sept 30.
“As fate would have it, I was the only one in our family whose marrow was compatible with his.”
The 40-year-old recalled that the nurses in the hospital would draw blood multiple times a day, but pain and fear were not on her mind, due to the attempt to save her elder brother Cedear.
“One day, a kind-hearted nurse surprised me with this plush bunny – a simple gesture that spoke volumes,” she wrote, posting two photos of the toy.
“That bunny, which I’ve kept to this day, represents the hardest-earned gift of my life. It’s a testament to the strength I didn’t know I possessed.”
Sim wanted to express her deepest gratitude to the nurse, with whom she had lost contact. She told Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao that the medical worker was probably in her early 20s then.
“You saw me – not just as a patient or a donor, but as a frightened nine-year-old girl trying to make sense of a very unfamiliar situation,” she wrote. “Your gentleness and care meant so much.”
Sim, who also posted two photos of herself and her brother as children, told The Straits Times in a 2014 interview that she had lost him to leukaemia when he was 14 and she was nine.
The model-actress is married to Mr Deon Woo, a credit specialist in banking. They have two daughters – Layla, who is four, and Skyla, who is 1½ years old.
Sim, who is starring in upcoming blockbuster series Emerald Hill, said a truly caring nurse goes beyond healing physical wounds and can leave an indelible mark on the soul.
“Thank you for showing me that even in the midst of pain and uncertainty, there is always room for love and kindness,” she said, adding #thankyounurse as one of her hashtags. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
