The Tennessee Christmas Story That Has The Whole World In Tears

It’s been a while since Tennessee has seen the likes of this recent Santa and child interaction that is both heartcrushing and heartwarming at the same time. Read on for a Chistmas story like no other you’ve ever heard before and see how Santa granting the wish of one boy is uplifting the hearts of Tenneseeans everywhere.

Flickr/Brent Moore

When a Tennessee hospital nurse placed a call to Santa to come answer the wish of a dying five-year-old East Tennessee child, Santa bypassed his sleigh in favor of quicker transportation.

YouTube/Becca Habegger

Time was a real issue and there just wasn't much left. So he made his way, sans Red Santa Suit, to the side of the small child in the Intensive Care Unit of a nearby hospital.

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Flickr/Scott Shingler

It was there that he was handed a perfectly wrapped gift by the child's mother and asked to please hand-deliver it to the boy. It seems the boys' dying wish was to meet Santa.

Fighting an overwhelming urge to break down and cry, Santa stepped into the boys' I.C.U. room, gift in hand, and snuggled up to the side of the child's hospital bed where he asked in the most cheerful voice he could muster up, "What's this I hear about you maybe missing Christmas?"

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YouTube/Becca Habegger

The boy replied that he'd been told he was dying and he asked "Santa can you help me?" Santa gave the boy a hug as the boy asked how he would "know when I get where I'm going?" Without hesitation, Santa told the young boy, "When you get to those Pearly Gates, you tell them you are Santa's #1 Elf and they'll be sure to let you in." According to reports from the Knoxville News Sentinel the boy passed in Santa's arms immediately after this exchange.

Here’s a short video from YouTube user Becca Habegger of WBIR News. In it, Santa recounts this heartcrushing experience.

As this story from Tennessee goes viral, hearts are breaking worldwide for the family who has lost a child, for the child who didn’t miss Christmas afterall, and for the Santa who delivered more than simply a wrapped gift to a terminally ill boy this year.