Terminally ill 5-year-old boy dies in Santa's arms 2026

This is one of those stories that I wish we would never have to tell. A five-year-old boy has died in the United States after not being able to overcome a cancer that was detected at a very early age. An injustice and a jug of frozen water that has left us like this, precisely. One of those blows that life gives without further explanations or arguments. The sad news has gone viral when it became known what the child's curious last request was, just before taking his last breath, to see Santa Claus.

The story is that Eric Schmitt-Matzen is an artist who works as Santa Claus (or Father Christmas, whichever you prefer) during the Christmas season. When they called him from a hospital in the city where he works, he did not know that he was about to face one of his most difficult professional and personal moments.

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Upon arrival, Eric asked for a few minutes to put on his Santa Claus suit, but the nurse told him that there was no time to waste and that the suspenders he was wearing were enough. He had to enter the child's room as soon as possible. Before entering, the boy's mother gave him a gift to give to her son.

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At that moment he realized how delicate the situation was: "I understood the situation. So I told everyone: 'If you think you're going to lose your composure, please leave the room. If I see you crying, I'm going to break down and I won't be able to do my job.'"

Upon entering the room he gave the gift to the child, but he barely had the strength to open it. The little boy had heard that he was going to die and asked the man dressed as Santa Claus if he could help him. Eric was at a loss for words and then he hugged him with great tenderness and sweetness. At that moment, the child took his last breath and died in her arms. The mother ran into the place shouting "No, no, no, not yet!" After this, Eric left there, took his car to return home on a journey bathed in tears that barely allowed him to see the road, as he himself expressed.

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