The light in a Child’s eyes is all it takes to make Christmas a magical time of the year.
Is this what is called Christmas magic? Should a terminally ill child be deprived of this Christmas magic? I know your answer is a big “No”.
A toddler, who brought tears to the eyes of the people after a photo of him meeting Santa was shared on social media has died.
Miles Agnew had been in hospice care for some months together. He was just 2 years old. Unfortunately his health was rapidly going downhill from last week. Yes! His body “started shutting down”.
Miles from birth was suffering from serious diseases. He was born with microcephaly. He had spastic quad cerebral palsy. To add to it he had cortical vision impairment. He also had intractable epilepsy, brain malformations & feeding intolerance.
Miles, the cute kid, was adopted by the Agnew family, when he was just three months old. He has two older siblings – 13 year old Hailey & 11 year old Taveon.
His mum, Michelle, didn’t want to deprive her son from experiencing the joy of meeting Father Christmas perhaps for the last time. So it was arranged that Santa would visit the hospital so that a very pale & weak Miles could sit on his lap & get the feel of love of Father Christmas through his touch.
The image went viral around the world. Eventually, this prompted an outpouring of well wishes to his family in Salt Lake City, Utah from thousands of people.
On December 5, Jerry Bodily, dressed in a beautiful red suit, hurriedly reached the hospital. He was keen on enabling Miles’ family to see Miles sit on Santa’s lap for the last time perhaps.
Jerry was quite upset & he could not control his tears during this visit. The visit was organised by the Secret Sleigh Project. They provide a chance to poorly & seriously ill children to meet Santa at home or at the hospital.
The volunteers involved in this project strongly believe, “Every child deserves to experience Christmas magic, even when homebound due to the difficulty of their care.”
Jerry felt that this particular visit was a very difficult one for him since it made him remember some personal loss that happened in his life.
“Back in the 70s when I met my former wife, she had two daughters, her youngest had been diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and six weeks after we met, she lost her battle, so I know what the family was going through.
I can’t lie, I got choked up and there was a tear in Santa’s eye, but this was for this family’s memory,” Jerry said.
The Santa Sleigh Project remarked, “The family was grateful to have Santa there & to get pictures with all of their children, one last time.”
“We were honoured to be a part of this family’s day, in some small way,” they continued.
Thanking Santa Jerry they said, “We also send much gratitude to you, Santa Jeff, since you have brought some needed joy to this little boy and his family.”
It had to come. No escape from it. Soon Miles’ mum Michelle had to make the painful announcement that the toddler passed away.
“It is with a very heavy heart that I’m announcing the passing away of Miles Agnew. Last night he quietly passed away in the arms of his parents and surrounded by a loving family,” Michelle conveyed sadly.
Yes! Aren’t there different ways of experiencing Christmas magic?
