Dedicated dad sleeps under sick son's hospital cot

Andre Palmer was captured sleeping under his son's hospital cot. Photo / Facebook, Amy Palmer

He'd just worked a night shift, but this dad wasn't too tired for his most important job: caring for his sick son.

The Pennsylvania father was captured by his wife sleeping under the cot where their 20-month-old son, AJ, lay after being admitted to hospital following a bad asthma attack.

Andre Palmer and his wife, Amy, were crammed into a tiny hospital room with just one chair, which Amy was asleep in when Andre arrived.

Amy told People: "He didn't want to wake me up. At about 8 in the morning, I saw him under the crib and I just had to take a picture of it."

Sharing the image on Facebook on Tuesday, she wrote: "This is a picture of a hard working man dedicated to his family!"

The post has been liked nearly 5,000 times and elicited messages of support for the dedicated dad.

"We need more dads like him!" wrote Bert Palmer.

Monique Doweary said the image made her "tear up".

Amy added to the raft of messages explaining why she felt she had to take the shot: "I had to take a picture because to many, all they see is a man lying on the floor. To me I saw a man who worked all night, who could have went home to go to sleep (I wouldn't have minded knowing he worked all night), who could have asked me to get up so he could lay down. All this shows the amazing husband and father he is!!!"

She posted a second message thanking everyone who reached out to her family and said their son is out of hospital and recovering well.