Post by Trades on Dec 13, 2016 13:31:57 GMT -5
Perspective
5-year-old asks Santa for one final wish before dying in his arms
5-year-old asks Santa for one final wish before dying in his arms
Several weeks ago, Eric Schmitt-Matzen, a mechanical engineer and part-time santa received a call from a local Nashville nurse. Schmitt-Matzen was used to getting requests and would always oblige, but this one was different…
The nurse asked him to come to a local hospital because there was a terminally ill 5-year-old boy who’s one Christmas wish was to see Santa. Schmitt-Matzen quickly changed into his costume and hurried to the hospital where he was greeted by the little boy’s mother, who gave him a a Paw Patrol toy to hand to her son.
“When I walked in, he was laying there, so weak it looked like he was ready to fall asleep. I sat down on his bed and asked, ‘Say, what’s this I hear about you’re gonna miss Christmas? There’s no way you can miss Christmas! Why, you’re my Number One elf!” Schmitt-Matzen told the boy. He told a local paper the boy was so weak he could barely open the gift.
He asked Santa, “They say I’m going to die. How can I tell when I get to where I’m going?” Holding the boy in his arms, he told him, “When you get there, you tell ’em you’re Santa’s Number One elf, and I know they’ll let you in.”
The boy sat up, and asked him one more question: “Santa, can you help me?”
But before Schmitt-Matzen could answer, the boy died in his arms.
“I spent four years in the Army with the 75th Rangers, and I’ve seen my share of (stuff). But I ran by the nurses’ station bawling my head off. I know nurses and doctors see things like that every day, but I don’t know how they can take it,” he told USA Today.
“I cried all the way home,” Schmitt-Matzen said. “I was crying so hard, I had a tough time seeing good enough to drive. My wife and I were scheduled to visit our grandchildren in Nashville the next day, but I told her to go by herself. I was a basket case for three days. It took me a week or two to stop thinking about it all the time.”
Eric Schmitt-Matzen has played Santa Clause for over a decade. His beard is real, he was even born on December 6th (Saint Nicholas Day). He has brought joy to thousands of children, but for one, their final wish.
The nurse asked him to come to a local hospital because there was a terminally ill 5-year-old boy who’s one Christmas wish was to see Santa. Schmitt-Matzen quickly changed into his costume and hurried to the hospital where he was greeted by the little boy’s mother, who gave him a a Paw Patrol toy to hand to her son.
“When I walked in, he was laying there, so weak it looked like he was ready to fall asleep. I sat down on his bed and asked, ‘Say, what’s this I hear about you’re gonna miss Christmas? There’s no way you can miss Christmas! Why, you’re my Number One elf!” Schmitt-Matzen told the boy. He told a local paper the boy was so weak he could barely open the gift.
He asked Santa, “They say I’m going to die. How can I tell when I get to where I’m going?” Holding the boy in his arms, he told him, “When you get there, you tell ’em you’re Santa’s Number One elf, and I know they’ll let you in.”
The boy sat up, and asked him one more question: “Santa, can you help me?”
But before Schmitt-Matzen could answer, the boy died in his arms.
“I spent four years in the Army with the 75th Rangers, and I’ve seen my share of (stuff). But I ran by the nurses’ station bawling my head off. I know nurses and doctors see things like that every day, but I don’t know how they can take it,” he told USA Today.
“I cried all the way home,” Schmitt-Matzen said. “I was crying so hard, I had a tough time seeing good enough to drive. My wife and I were scheduled to visit our grandchildren in Nashville the next day, but I told her to go by herself. I was a basket case for three days. It took me a week or two to stop thinking about it all the time.”
Eric Schmitt-Matzen has played Santa Clause for over a decade. His beard is real, he was even born on December 6th (Saint Nicholas Day). He has brought joy to thousands of children, but for one, their final wish.