The festive season is a time where people get together to eat, drink and be merry – and, for those who are fortunate enough, they get to watch the children in their lives’ excitement of unwrapping a stack of beautifully wrapped presents.
But what if the only present your child asked for isn’t sitting beneath the Christmas tree?
This is a problem the firefighters of the Channelview Fire Department in the U.S. were faced with after a 12-year-old boy asked Santa for the impossible.
This is because Arnulfo Guerra Jr asked Santa Claus for a new heart for his sick mother.
“Dear Santa,” he wrote in his heart-wrenchingly selfless letter to the big man.
“Santa I don’t want toys for me, only I want a [healthy] heart for my mom, she’s sick, her diagnostic is transposition of the great [arteries] (T.G.A).”
“I’m sad for her she’s 46 years and I only 12.”
“Next March 18, I will be 13 teen. We need her for many years more.”
“Me and my Dad pray all days for mom. Only I want is to see my mom [healthy] and happy.”
According to Arnulfo’s father, who spoke candidly to ABC News, his son’s touching plea comes as Arnulfo’s mum suffers from a heart defect that has her on a waiting list for a donor.
She has been on this same waiting list for a year, with doctors warning the family that it could take up to five until a donor appears.
The letter fell into the hands of a social worker at Arnulfo’s high school, who then passed it on to the firefighters in a bid to help raise Arnfulfo’s spirits.
They gifted him a bike and a sack full of toys from the local community’s toy drive, and even gave his unwell mum – who couldn’t hold back her tears – a striking silver bracelet.
“Kids need their parents,” says Channelview Fire Department paramedic Katya Garza.
“They really don’t know the circumstances when it’s life an death for the most part.”
We’ll be thinking of Arnulfo and his family during this festive season.
WATCH the moment his mum discovers what he wished for in the video below…
