(Photo via Lanzhou Morning Post)

A set of photos capturing the moment when a young nurse embraced a little boy before surgery has gone viral on Chinese social media, with many netizens calling it the most peaceful moment.

The nurse, Ma Tongyan, was consoling the boy at the operating room in People’s Hospital of Dingxi in Gansu Province, Northwest China. The boy, 2, was about to undergo surgery to repair an inguinal hernia, a bulge of swollen when tissue formed when part of the intestine protrudes through a weak spot in the abdominal muscles.

With no family around, the young boy was nervous and scared in the operation room. He was crying out loud when Ma, the nurse anesthetist, brought the boy into her arms, comforting him like a mother. The operation went smoothly, Lanzhou Morning Post reported.

The photos were taken by the boy’s mother. “I have to say, you (Ma) are so beautiful. Thank you for touching the entire family and thank you to every doctor and nurse who took care of my son,” the mother wrote along with photos on her WeChat account.

“In fact, no matter adult or child, we are all daunted when lying down in an operating room,” Ma said.

“As nurses in the anesthesiology department, we understand the fear of children, and we do take into consideration the concerns of their family members, too. In the operating rooms, where patients feel most lonely and helpless, I try my best to give the patients comfort to make feel better,” the nurse said. (Photos via Lanzhou Morning Post)