He almost quit being Santa after granting a child’s dying wish

Santa visits to children in hospitals are not uncommon. It’s a good distraction from sickness and disease, for both the children and their parents.

But that’s not what happened during Eric Schmitt-Matzen’s visit to a hospital near Knoxville. It wasn’t a distraction – it was a last wish.

Schmitt-Matzen lives and breathes his Santa role, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. His long white beard is real (though bleached regularly), he’s 6-feet tall and 310 pounds, has been through formal Santa training, has a custom-made red suit, wears Santa suspenders under his regular clothes and was born on Dec. 6, Saint Nicholas Day. His cell phone counts down the days to Christmas and has a ring tone to the tune of “Jingle Bells.”

He’s a 60-year-old mechanical engineer full-time and served four years in the Army, but now does about 80 Santa gigs per year. This one almost made him give it all up for good, he told News Sentinel columnist Sam Venable.

“I cried all the way home. I was crying so hard, I had a tough time seeing good enough to drive,” Schmitt-Matzen told the News Sentinel. “My wife and I were scheduled to visit our grandchildren in Nashville the next day, but I told her to go by herself. I was a basket case for three days. It took me a week or two to stop thinking about it all the time.

“Actually, I thought I might crack up and never be able to play the part again.”

A nurse called him and said a “very sick 5-year-old” was there who wanted to see Santa Claus. When Schmitt-Matzen told her he would change into his suit and be right there, she said there wasn’t time for that – his suspenders would do.

He arrived in 15 minutes, where he met the boy’s mother and other family members. The mother handed him a toy to give to the boy, and Schmitt-Matzen told the family they couldn’t be in the room if they were going to cry, because then he would start crying and wouldn’t be able to play the role. So no one went in with him, instead watching from a hallway window.

“When I walked in, he was laying there, so weak it looked like he was ready to fall asleep,” Schmitt-Matzen 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!”

Schmitt-Matzen gave him the present, but said the boy could barely open the wrapping paper because he was so weak. When he saw the toy he smiled and laid back down.

“They say I’m gonna die,” the boy said. “How can I tell when I get to where I’m going?”

Schmitt-Matzen told him, “When you get there, you tell ’em you’re Santa’s Number One elf, and I know they’ll let you in.”

The boy hugged Schmitt-Matzen and asked, “Santa, can you help me?”

“I wrapped my arms around him. Before I could say anything, he died right there. I let him stay, just kept hugging and holding on to him,” Schmitt-Matzen recalled. “Everyone outside the room realized what happened. His mother ran in. She was screaming, ‘No, no, not yet!’ I handed her son back and left as fast as I could.”

He said he was “bawling his head off” as he left the hospital, and actually thought he would never be able to play the role again. But he did make himself play the role again, which convinced him to change his mind.

“When I saw all those children laughing, it brought me back into the fold,” Schmitt-Matzen said. “It made me realize the role I have to play. For them and for me.”

Schmitt-Matzen posted a link to the story on his Facebook, prompting emotional reactions from his friends.

“I knew you had the look. Now I know you have the heart,” one friend wrote. “I’m in tears after reading this story. This Santa’s hat is off to you sir.”

You can read the full story at the Knoxville News Sentinel.

This story was originally published December 12, 2016 at 7:13 PM with the headline "He almost quit being Santa after granting a child’s dying wish."