'Blew me away': Heartwarming story behind photo of young nurse and elderly patient

The nurse wheeled the elderly patient out of her room so they could sit in the sunlight. Photo / Courtenay Noble / Supplied

Courtenay Noble knew straight away she had to record the touching sight she witnessed in a Sunshine Coast hospital.

The 45-year-old was walking along a hallway in the hospital, where she was recovering from a burst appendix, when she saw a nurse had wheeled an elderly patient from her room to the end of the hallway so they could sit together in the afternoon sun.

The young nurse pulled up a chair next to the woman and held her hand and chatted to her while she rested her head on the patient's bed.

Ms Noble told news.com.au the room the woman had been in didn't get much light. Even now - days later - she still gets emotional thinking about it.

"It was such a nice thing to see, it was really beautiful. It blew me away."

She said the nurse chatted to the woman for a long time.

"She treated her with dignity and respect and wasn't all patronising. It was a normal conversation, she was just so lovely."

Ms Noble was in a room close to the elderly woman and had noticed it didn't get much sunlight.

Courtenay Noble was amazed by the nurse's kindness. Photo / Supplied

Ms Noble showed the nurse the picture later and she just shrugged it off "as if it happened all of the time".

"She was so casual about it and wandered off to do something else."

It made her think the nurse "who was no older than 25" had done similar things before.

The moment was something she would never forget.

"It's really restored my faith in humanity."