A heart-warming video shows the moment a nurse is reunited with her two daughters after the heroic NHS frontline worker has been away from them for nine weeks.
Suzanne Vaughan, 43, made the brave decision to separate from her two girls as she worked in a hospital operating theatre and ICU during the Covid-19 peak.
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And finally, two months later, she reunited with her kids.
In the emotional footage, she can be seen surprising daughters Bella, nine, and Hettie, seven, who were staying with her sister, Charlotte.
The pair had no idea she was about to surprise them last Sunday (31 May) and they burst into tears when they saw her.
Suzanne, from Kings Lynn, Norfolk, said: "I brought them to my sister's home because I wanted to keep them safe, because I work at the hospital and was exposing myself to the virus each day.
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"But I also wanted to work more, and I couldn't do more hours and keep the girls. It was a really difficult decision but it was a sacrifice that needed to be made.
"Leaving them was very emotional as I didn't know how long it would be until I saw them again - I never expected it to be nine weeks.
"But so many others have made the same sacrifices because we want to help people and fight this virus.
"It was something I needed to do - I started doing this job over 20 years ago because I wanted to help people. I put work first for nine weeks, but I think now it was time I put my girls first."
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The operating department practitioner (ODP) told bosses at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Norfolk that she wanted to almost double her hours due to the pandemic.
Suzie, who normally works 28 hours a week, offered to work more than 50 hours a week to help with the national effort against the virus.
She was working 12-hour days and nights, and spent three weeks in ICU before transferring to the Covid A&E department assisting in airway management.
ODPs have similar responsibilities as nurses but also play a vital part of the operating theatre team.
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The single mum says she FaceTimed her daughters each day and they never let her wake up for a shift without a good morning text.
Suzanne said: "We FaceTime each day and they will always text me good morning. I was tired from work and wanted to see them but I knew I couldn't cuddle them so I stuck to it."
But after nine weeks she was overworked and felt she needed to see her two girls.
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She said: "I told my boss I needed to reduce my hours back to normal, and she was incredibly understanding and supportive.
"By the end I had a countdown to when I'd be seeing my girls again and it was really the one thing keeping me going."
Suzanne planned to bring the girls back home about a week before the surprise, but had to keep it a secret because she didn't want to disappoint them if anything changed.
She said: "We kept it a secret from them because I didn't want to disappoint them in case something changed, but it was all worthwhile when I saw their reactions.
"I just didn't want to let them go and when they cried I just felt it in my heart. It was amazing."
Nine-year-old Bella added: "I think the NHS are really great people trying to save the world.
"Mummy did a brilliant job. She had to be away to save people.
"She's my hero."
Featured Image Credit: SWNSTopics: UK News, Coronavirus