Sick Child Dies In The Arms Of Santa Claus

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Eric Schmitt-Matzen, who works as Santa Claus for the holiday season, had the saddest assignment of his career when he was called from a nearby hospital to visit a terminally ill boy.

According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, a local nurse called the artist to request his presence in the hospital because there was a very sick 5-year-old boy who wanted to see Santa Claus. Schmitt-Matzen explained that it would take her only a few minutes to put on the costume, but she replied that there was no time for that anymore. "Her Santa suspenders are good enough," she said. "Come right now."

About 15 minutes later the hasty "Santa Claus" arrived at the hospital where the boy's mother gave him a gift to give to his son. "I understood the situation," the artist would later recall. “So I said to everyone, 'If you think you are going to lose your composure, please leave the room. If I see them crying, I'm going to break and I won't be able to do my job.”

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Schmitt-Matzen gave the gift to the boy who could barely open it. Later the boy told him that he had heard that he was going to die. And he asked: "Santa, can you help me?"

His new friend hugged him tenderly, but before he could answer or say a word of comfort, the little boy gave his last breath. Then his bereaved mother entered the intensive care unit screaming, "No, no, not yet!"

The shocked Eric revealed to the newspaper that he left the place as soon as he could and that, while driving home, he was crying so hard that he had difficulty seeing the road.