The nurse said there was a ‘very sick five-year-old boy’ who wanted to see Santa Claus, Schmitt-Matzen told the Knoxville News Sentinel.
He told the nurse he would change into his suit and come right away, but she said the boy didn’t have much time left.
‘Your Santa suspenders are good enough,’ she then said. ‘Come right now.’
Fifteen minutes later, Schmitt-Matzen arrived. The boy’s mother held out a toy from the popular children’s show PAW Patrol, and asked him to give it to her son.
‘I sized up the situation and told everyone, “If you think you’re going to lose it, please leave the room. If I see you crying, I’ll break down and can’t do my job,'” he said.
‘When I turned around, where is everyone? Already outside, crying in the hallway,’ he told DailyMail.com.
As the boy’s relatives watched from a window looking into the Intensive Care Unit, Schmitt-Matzen walked inside and saw the boy.
‘He was laying there, so weak it looked like he was ready to fall asleep,’ he said.
‘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!’
The little boy looked up at Schmitt-Matzen and his perfect Santa Claus beard and asked: ‘I am?’
Schmitt-Matzen assured the child that he was, and then gave him the toy.
‘He was so weak he could barely open the wrapping paper. When he saw what was inside, he flashed a big smile and laid his head back down.’
The little boy then had a big question for Santa.
‘They say I’m gonna die,’ he told Schmitt-Matzen. ‘How can I tell when I get to where I’m going?’
Schmitt-Matzen then asked the little boy to do him a ‘big favor’.
‘When you get there, you tell them you’re Santa’s Number One elf, and I know they’ll let you in,’ he told the boy.
‘They will?’ the child asked.
‘Sure!’ Schmitt-Matzen confidently replied.
The little boy sat up and gave him a big hug. He had one more question: ‘Santa, can you help me?’
It would be his final words.
‘I wrapped my arms around him. Before I could say anything, he died right there,’ Schmitt-Matzen said.
‘He was in my arms when I felt him pass.
‘I kinda looked up in the air, and tears started coming down my face,’ he told DailyMail.com, choking up again at the memory.
‘I let him stay, just kept hugging and holding on to him.’
Schmitt-Matzen said everyone outside the room then realized what had just happened, and the little boy’s mother ran into the room screaming.
‘I handed her son back and left as fast as I could,’ he said.
‘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.
The entire experience completely rattled Schmitt-Matzen, who cried the entire drive back home.
‘I even had to pull over a couple of times,’ he admitted.
‘My wife and I were scheduled to visit our grandchildren in Nashville the next day, but I told her to go by herself,’ he said.
‘I was a basket case for three days. It took me a week or two to stop thinking about it all the time,’ he added of the experience, which occurred more than a month ago.
Schmitt-Matzen was so affected he even considered leaving Santa Claus behind for good.
ht/ wisco dave
a great great santa, with tremendous courage
one of my boys went thru 18 surgeries at children’s hospital and i spent many a night there
as i would walk thru the passageways while leaving, severely depressed and angry about the neverending treatments, i was instantly humbled by the many rooms with kids who were not to come home, surrounded by praying family members
this fixed my feeling sorry for myself
if i had the courage, i would volunteer my time to a children’s hospital but i know that i would at some point come in with gifts to a boy or girl only to be told that he or she is no longer with us
i am a coward next to this fine gentleman
This is the saddest story in the world. I can’t imagine the heartbreak of having a terminally ill child. I haven’t been able to read this whole story, dust in the air or something.
Damn. Just…..damn.
WOW. I hope Santa didn’t have to go back to “work” right after that. I would need a lot of time to recover from that experience.
I should not have read this at work.
Pow.
God Speed little Man.
58 years old and I find out Santa Clause is Real..
It probably took more than compassion, courage and wisdom to complete this “mission”.
I have no words.
Tears. We buried pre-born grandson in 2005, two weeks before Christmas. We lost another pre-born grandchild this summer. We are now waiting for the completion of the miscarriage process of yet another pre-born grandchild. Yes, tears. But yet, prayers and hope.
On a much lighter Santa note. I was leaving a restaurant and Santa came over to me saying he wanted to talk with me. At first I though the real gray bearded Santa was coming on to me. Then I realized I was wearing my Trump broach, and strangers often come up to me while I’m wearing it. I smiled at him and said I already got what I wanted for Christmas and I motioned to my broach.
He then told me to be good, and I told him I ALWAYS try to be good. 🙂
He winked and laughed.
No way in he world can you prepare for that,I believe that Guardian angels were there for them both.
May the child rest easy in the Lords arms.
Sad
annie Go Trump
As hard as I try to harden my heart for what is to come, stories such as this touch me deeply.
Thanks for posting it BFH.
Hopefully our humanity will be our strength for what lies ahead.
come to me all you that are heavy burdened and I will
give you rest.
Sad yet, inspiring. I saw this article earlier on Fox News online. The hateful diatribe in the comment section is very disturbing. It is becoming increasingly difficult to have a Christian, charitable heart towards the left.
What was the sour gripes????
Touching. So touching. GOD BLESS YOU for being tnere.
BayouWolf – yep, leftists are the Turd in America’s punchbowl.
BFH, it’s tough to read these stories but keep them coming as often as possible. They are inspiring.
He was a sweet kind man but the Santa story is a lie that gets in the way. Not nice to lie to children.
Bless that Santa.
@pboid seriously? That’s your reaction? Sure you don’t want a do over on that comment?
Oh, man. What a story. 😢
Wow, just, wow.
Thank you for giving him a smile at the end.
I’da lost my shit too.