Age and emotions

I had my first case of postpartum hemorrhage come into our community hospital ED. The patient was in her 30s and she has had 5 kids. I'm 24 years old with no children and have not even experienced pregnancy yet.

I don't think I will ever forget the look of terror when I was helping getting her changed and blood was gushing out of her and soaking pad after pad. She was sobbing, hyperventilating, and shaking. She was absolutely terrified. While I was crouched on the ground helping her with an incontinence brief, I looked up at her and said "I know you're scared, and you have every right to be because you are experiencing something you haven't experienced before. But I am not scared. I have you, I am here for you, and I will care for you." It seemed to help her little bit, she calmed down and laid back.

My question, or I guess the point of discussion is, do you ever have these moments when you're caring for someone your age or just slightly older and have a sudden realization of the role you're playing in their life? Caring for aging adults doesn't give me the same realization because the age difference is so vast. But something about caring for people in emergency situations that are close to my age just hits me a little harder. Does that make sense?