Oh it will get more than a hug! It is effectively in intensive care.
Having cleared the base, it has been watered during our current heatwave up here in Scotland, has had two full wheelbarrows of part-composted wood chippings all to itself and recently the turfed-out remains of a large pot of compost from a plant that didn't survive the winter.
It does have surface roots running along the ground and those are now mostly covered under a shallow layer of chippings.
It is doing well enough for an abandoned tree - I dealt with crossed branches that I could reach when we moved in last year and then it got the Scottish Power military buzz cut last October. Saws by Silky, no less!