180 kids put aside illness as Santa’s copter lands at SRQ

More than 180 terminally ill kids and their families were invited to the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport Fire Department Thursday to see white-bearded, red-suited Santa Claus arrive during the 31st annual “Flight to the North Pole.”

One of the children eager to see Santa climb out of a helicopter at 11:45 a.m. was Bradenton’s Jamie Lee Sprout, 10, who has mitochondrial myopathy, a form of muscular dystrophy caused by damage to the mitochondrial, which are tiny parts of human cells that produce energy.

“His sight is already starting to diminish,” Jamie’s mother, Nikki Sprout, said of her son. “It will also eventually take away the hearing. The doctor told us that there could be a morning we wake up and, no warning, he could be blind or deaf.”

But Jamie’s medical problems were left at the door when his mother and grandmother wheeled him onto the airport fire department grounds, which had been transformed into the North Pole.

“Jamie starts counting the day for this beginning in October,” his mother said.

Jamie saw kids going for rides on real horses, making snowballs on a patch of real snow. He could hear a school chorus singing Christmas songs and he heard the bang, bang, bang coming from Santa’s workshop where kids were hammering crafts or getting their face painted.

Jamie knew that behind some closed doors there was Santa’s playhouse, where the Jolly One had individual gift bags for each child attending.

There was also the smell of lunch being prepared for all the kids and their families thanks to donations from Sonny’s BBQ, McDonald’s, Little Caesar’s, Texas Roadhouse, Jimmy John’s, Culver’s, Kona Ice, Chik-Fil-A Tastykake/Flowers Bakery, Walmart, Publix and others.

Jamie has been to this event for many years and his mother always decorates his wheelchair. Last year she made it into a sleigh. This year she made it into a red, white and green elf easy chair, complete with elf shoes for Jamie.

Jamie was first in line to see Santa and he seemed to float out of his wheelchair.

“Come sit on my lap,” Santa told Jamie. “Let’s see here. I know you like Legos.”

“Oh, I love it,” Jamie said when Santa pulled out a Lego box. “Thank you Santa. Thank you Mrs. Claus.”

Publix truck driver John Friel has been Santa’s stunt double, so to speak, for 12 years.

“It’s unbelievable,” Friel said of the reaction he gets when he gets off the helicopter. “The children get so ecstatic. They’re so happy. They are overjoyed to see Santa come in and offer them all these activities going on as well as gifts.”

While the children lined up to see Friel, ’er, Santa, and each get a gift bag, Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube, who will retire in January, stood in back.

“This is a day these kids can come and simply have fun,” Steube said. “We invite not only the kids who are ill but their whole families as well. Just seeing the smiles on their faces is priceless. Some of these kids have never ridden a horse.”

The Sheriff’s Office assists with running the event with the help of the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport Fire Department, local businesses and hundreds of volunteers. With siblings and families the entire event hosted more than 350 people.

“These families, all they do is take care of the kids all year and they need a break,” said Sidney Ettedgui, who is in charge of the event.

Ettedgui said he purchases $50 gift cards at Walmart using money from the foundation to give to families.

“This is a wonderful day for the children,” said SRQ airport Fire Chief Bill Quinn. “It’s all about helping the kids today. That’s all it is.”

This story was originally published December 8, 2016 at 4:01 PM with the headline "180 kids put aside illness as Santa’s copter lands at SRQ."