Who: Emily Gunder is a physician assistant at WellSpan Urgent Orthopedics in York, who recently examined a 10-year-old boy for a possible broken elbow.

What: When the boy and his grandma came into the exam room to see Emily, after the boy received an X-ray, they realized that the boy accidentally had left a treasured stuffed animal in the waiting room. The office’s team immediately went to look for it, but could not find it.

The little boy, who has autism, was very attached to the stuffed animal and became quite upset when he realized it was gone. Grandma and her grandson (the family has asked to remain anonymous) left after being told the boy’s elbow was fine but his possible injury was almost forgotten in the turmoil that ensued after his stuffed animal disappeared.

His grandma said, “Shadow was one of his favorites. When he saw it was missing, his hands went up to the sides of his face, like the boy in the movie ‘Home Alone.’ It was just tears upon tears upon tears.”

A short time after the boy and his grandma left, Emily reached out to the grandma and asked if it was OK if she replaced the stuffed animal – a character named “Shadow” from the Sonic the Hedgehog video game. She quickly found one online, ordered it and had it sent to the little boy’s home.

Words to live by: Emily, who has two young sons of her own, felt bad that her young patient was upset, and that the incident threw his family’s day off-kilter.

“I just felt for the little guy,” Emily said. “As a mom, I wanted to show him kindness and brighten his day up and help his family.

“His grandma said, ‘I’m going to have to run around all day to find this,’ and I said, ‘No you’re not. We are going to send a new one to your house.’ ”

The boy was bowled over when the animal arrived by mail the very next day. He ended up receiving other Shadows from his mom and a family friend as replacements as well, but notes that Emily’s was the largest and is “the boss” of his other stuffies.

“I was, like, amazed!” he said, on a return visit to bring Emily a box of chocolates and a handwritten note that said, “Your my hero!”

His grandma said, “He was just hugging it and hugging it and hugging it. He just absolutely loved it. He took the deepest sigh of relief, like Christmas finally came.

“Emily was a miracle worker. The staff there was too. They were as upset as he was for himself. They just went the extra mile and went above and beyond.”