Madoka Takadono was puzzled at first when a nurse had offered to pray for her surgery to be successful.

But the act of piety made her reflect on the plight of health care workers amid the pandemic and resulted in a viral tweet she hopes will inspire others to think of the medical community at a time of crisis.

Takadono, a writer by trade, was hospitalized for an operation a year ago. She was bleeding heavily due to a uterus myoma and had suffered from anemia for about two weeks each month.

Her gynecologist put her in contact with a Catholic hospital in a mountainous area in Hyogo Prefecture, where she would stay for three days to undergo endoscopic surgery. She would be anesthetized for the operation, but still, she could not quell her fears.

Takadono recalled her family’s faces and welled up.

“If by any chance something happens to me, they would feel sad,” she thought.

Trying to dispel her anxiety and take her mind off the procedure, Takadono, who also creates stories for manga titles, downloaded the entire series of “Jojo's Bizarre Adventure,” a popular manga.

Uterus myoma is a sort of benign tumor derived from muscular tissue, and results in heavier menstruation. It is characterized by menstrual pain and anemia, but some patients do not realize they have the condition until they are diagnosed.

Because it can put pressure on other internal organs, it can also cause frequent urination, constipation, infertility, miscarriage and prematurity.

Just before being transferred to the surgery room, a nurse asked Takadono whether she would mind if she prayed for her.

Perplexed, Takadono said “go ahead.” The nurse, who looked about the same age or a bit younger than Takadono, held her hands in front of her and uttered words of prayer.

“May she go through the surgery safely and regain health to return to her family,” the nurse murmured.

Takadono did not know what to do, so she just watched the nurse pray. Takadono wondered whether she prays for all the patients before their operations and if all the staffers working there are Christians.

Afterward, Takadono told her that she “was a little excited because I had never seen someone pray for me.”

The nurse explained that her employer does not force her to pray; she simply wished to do so. Hospital workers there rely on their faith to get through every day because, despite their best efforts, some things are simply out of their control.

After arriving in the surgery room, Takadono saw a doctor and another nurse pray for her as well. While the anesthesia was being administered, Takadono thought she wants to “return safely so people here will go home feeling good.” She then lost consciousness.

She recently shared her story and feelings on Twitter late at night, in a show of support for health care providers amid the pandemic, and her tweet quickly gained traction.

Takadono had worked at a medical facility before becoming a writer, and she knows all too well that nurses do not enjoy high wages.

They are constantly busy, ensuring that patients going through hard times can spend their days in peace and comfort.

Takadono was concerned that praying for patients in addition to all that work might exhaust the overworked medical staff.

She occasionally thinks back to the nurse’s prayer on her operation day, even after her surgery was completed and she was discharged from the hospital.

Toward the end of 2020, Takadono watched a succession of news reports on the burden being placed on medical centers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Health care workers would accept patients with a little-known disease and keep working despite their fears of unfamiliar tasks and the deadly virus.

It is now my turn, Takadono thought, inspired by their kindness, to pray for nurses and doctors in return.

Takadono sent emails to local city assembly members and prefectural politicians with the hope of making them better understand the difficult circumstances medical facilities are facing every day.

Though politicians may be too busy to reply, she believes their mission is to become aware of citizens’ prayers earlier than anyone else. Many responses sympathetic to her Twitter post gave Takadono confidence in the power of prayer.

The writer and dramatist has created and published works that shed light on people across various occupations and social strata who find themselves in vulnerable positions. She believes it is the writer’s job to get the public interested in those kinds of topics through their stories so people can better understand the world and people around them.

Her work “Tokkan” (Special national tax collector), for example, centers on a tax collector, and has been adapted into a TV drama.

“Joryu Kaikyu” (Upper class) revolves around a department store sales official targeting wealthier individuals, while “Grand Chateau” tells a story about the bond between two women in a cabaret.

No matter what kind of job they take, people who have long devoted themselves to their workplaces are precious and irreplaceable, Takadono said.

She hopes it will become more common for people to seek out the understanding of others through learning about the experiences of workers in different occupations, which would, in turn, help people like the nurse who prayed for her that day.