International
Five-yr-old dies in Santa’s arms after receiving early Xmas gift
Eric Schmitt-Matzen, 61, of Caryville, Tennessee, who has been making children smile as Father Christmas for 9 years now recounts how a five-year-old boy died in his arms after receiving an early Christmas gift.
Schmitt-Matzen said he received an urgent call from a nurse at the local hospital in Tennessee about a five-year-old who is more concerned about missing Christmas than he is about dying.
“She goes, ‘There’s a little guy that’s about ready to pass. And he’s more concerned about missing Christmas than he is about dying,'” he recalled, noting that he went to the hospital as soon as he could.
“I met the parents and relatives down the hall. I said, ‘If anybody feels like they’re going to lose it, please wait in the hall because I’ve got to be happy and jovial. If anybody starts to cry, please do run out the hallway because I can’t do my job,'” Schmitt-Matzen said.
Continuing, Schmitt-Matzen revealed that he went to see the boy without his parents or relatives, adding that he didn’t want to divulge details of the hospital or the boy’s illness to protect the privacy of the family and the nurse who called him.
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“What’s this I hear, you think you’re going to miss Christmas?” he asked the 5-year-old boy. He nodded and Schmitt-Matzen told him, “No way. The elves had this present made for you a very long time ago.”
Schmitt-Matzen gave the boy the present his parents prepared for him. He said the boy needed help unwrapping the paper but smiled when he saw the present.
“He laid back and looked up at me and said, ‘They tell me I’m going to die.’ And I said, ‘Can you do me a favor? When you get to the pearly gates, you tell him you’re Santa’s number one elf.’ And he said, ‘I am?’ I said, ‘Sure you are. And they’ll let you right in,'” Schmitt-Matzen said.
He said the boy then looked up at his eyes and asked, “Santa, can you help me?”
Schmitt-Matzen said he hugged the boy and that’s when he passed away in his arms. “Tears were running down my face,” Schmitt-Matzen said, adding that it took him a while to recover from the heartache. “It took two weeks to not be seeing his little eyes looking up at me all the time.”
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