Santa comes early this Christmas so dying toddler can sit on his lap 'one last time'

Christmas is the time for giving and sharing. For a family wrought with tragedy, nothing can be farthest from then than Christmas cheer. However, the family of a dying toddler was brought some solace when ‘Santa’ rushed to be by their dying son’s side so that he could sit on his lap for “one last time.”

According to a report by ABC news, Miles Agnew, aged two, was born with microcephaly and has spastic quad cerebral palsy, cortical vision impairment, intractable epilepsy, brain malformations and feeding intolerance.

Miles has been in hospice care for months and his health has been slowly declining, but his condition deteriorated last week.

This led to ‘Santa’ rushing to the hospital on December 5 to be with the ill child. The visit was facilitated by the Secret Sleigh Project, who provide poorly and terminally ill children the opportunity to meet Santa at home.

While volunteers of the organisation believe that ‘every child deserves to experience Christmas magic,’ ‘Santa’ Jerry Bodily admitted that this was an especially difficult visit for him.

He went on to add that back in the 70s when he met my former wife, she had two daughters, her youngest had been diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and six weeks after they met, she lost her battle.

He went on to add, “I can’t lie, I got choked up, and there was a tear in Santa’s eye, but this was for this family’s memory.”

Speaking to ABC, the boy’s mum added, “With the turn in Miles' health and trying to make more memories as quickly as we can we didn’t think we would be able to do our Santa visit. We treasure our time and our memories with our family so much. Although we have had so much heartache in our lives we try our hardest to keep moving forward."

The image of Miles on Santa's lap was posted to the Secret Sleigh Project Facebook page with the caption: "Yesterday, without hesitation and with last-minute coordination, Santa went to visit one of our family's (sic) whose son became more ill rather quickly this last weekend. He was at their local hospital, receiving hospice care to help him be more comfortable. The family was grateful to have Santa there and to get pictures with all of their children, one last time. We were honored to be a part of this family's day, in some small way. We also send much gratitude to Santa Jeff, who brought some needed joy to this little boy and his family."