A doctor did the CUTEST thing for this little boy

Hospital stays can be really scary when you're a kid. Luckily for this little boy, he got to bring along a friend.

Joshua, 9, had severe reflux as a baby, and recently had to undergo an endoscopy. For comfort, he clutched his favorite toy, a little stuffed wolf pup.

While he was under anesthesia, pediatric gastroenterologist Christine Hurtado took a few minutes to sew up a small tear in the animal's fur, and marked a little "intravenous site" with a Band-Aid. When the procedure was over, she sent the wolf out with a little mask and gloves on his paws.

Joshua's dad, Kevin Wade, said Hurtado's small gesture delighted his son. "That stuffed animal means the world to him, that's his baby, and to know they thought enough of him to take care of his little baby is sweet," he told a CNN producer.

Hurtado says part of her job is to make the hospital environment seem a little less intimidating, and she has "operated" on a lot of stuffed animals so kids wouldn't feel like they were alone. "Being part of a children's hospital, they really encourage us to go that little extra bit to make a difference for families and kids."

Joshua is now doing much better, thanks to a special diet, and a few days after he got home from the hospital he took the bandages off his wolf friend and declared him "all better."