This is the heartwarming moment a young woman came face to face with her family after the pandemic kept them apart for two years apart.
Nurse Hannah Patterson, 25, moved to Sydney, Australia, in 2019, and made the tough decision to isolate there after the Coronavirus hit in March 2020.
But after two months with zero face to face contact Hannah was finally able to return in secret nd surprise her loving relatives.
Footage shows screams, hugs and tears of joy, as Hannah is reunited with mum and dad, her sisters, and her five-month-old niece, who she was meeting for the first time.
Hannah, from Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland, said: “I moved to Australia in Sept 2019 on a working holiday visa to work as a nurse in Sydney, Australia.
“In March 2020, during the first lockdown in Sydney I went to work on a farm for
three months, which then gave me another years visa.
“I decided going home wasn’t the best idea for me at that time as the situation at the time in NI was much worse than what we were experiencing in Sydney.
“Coming up to the end of my second year in Sydney (June 2021), we experienced the start of another surge in COVID 19 cases in Australia and at this stage I had to make the decision to either stay there and enter my third year or leave and go home without the chance of being able to come back anytime soon.
“I chose to come home. Two years is a long time without seeing family and I had missed really important events in my families lives at home already.
“I had told my family I was going to come home soon, but none of them knew it would be that soon. I arrived back home on 30th June and surprised everyone. It was a hard kept secret from a family who I speak to literally every day!!
“Meeting my youngest niece was definitely special. Me and my sister are super close and missing the birth of my niece was so, so hard for me and for my family too.
“We FaceTimed every week, but getting to finally hold her and know she was real was incredible.”
Hannah reflected on what It was like to see her family members for the first time in two years.
She added: “It was so surreal and something I dreamed about for months. I’m blessed with such a loving tight-knit family and to finally hug them again was unreal.
“I worried about them, like they worried about me too, with the ongoing pandemic and being so far away from each other. We were all just delighted to be altogether again.
“I had the best two years in Australia. It was the best place for me to be at that stage during the pandemic. It gave me the chance to travel more, meet new people and make memories for life.
“It also makes you appreciate what you have at home so much more. You take for granted being able to jump in the car and go visit your family, hug your nieces and nephews and have a cup of tea with your mum and dad.
“I definitely appreciate the small things now a lot more. I’m grateful for my time away but home is definitely where the heart is for
“I think a lot of people will be able to resonate with this story as I’m sure there are so many people that have been away from their family for long periods of time due to COVID 19.
“I know there is a large community of Irish/English (amongst lots others) that feel a bit trapped in Australia as coming home during these times can mean giving up their life over seas.
“It’s such a tough choice to make. But I hope it gives people something to look forward to and to know that when they finally can be reunited with their families there will be no feeling that compares.”