A terminally ill boy has died after receiving his last wish – to meet Santa Claus.
The five-year-old boy from Tennessee was so poorly earlier this year, that nurses rallied round the try and get Santa to come out and see him before he took his last breath.
They phoned Eric Schmitt Matzen, a 60-year-old who plays Father Christmas about 80 times a year.
“She said there was a very sick 5-year-old boy who wanted to see Santa Claus,” Eric says of his conversation with the nurse.
Fifteen minutes later, and he was across town at the intensive care unit, where the dying boy’s mum held out a toy to be gifted to him.
“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 told the Knoxville News Sentinel: “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 No. 1 elf!’”
Eric recalled how the little boy looked up at him and said: “Am I?”
After opening his gift, the little boy turned more serious, telling Eric that he knew he was going to die.
“How can I tell when I get to where I’m going?” he asked.
Santa told him: “When you get there, you tell ‘em you’re Santa’s No. 1 elf, and I know they’ll let you in.”
Eric gave him one final hug, and before anything could be said, the little boy passed away in his arms.
His distraught mum rushed to the bedside, but the little boy had already slipped away.
Eric recalled that upon leaving the hospital, he cried the entire journey home.
“I know nurses and doctors see things like that every day, but I don’t know how they can take it,” he said.
