So sad.

Sue

Oh my................

Oh, that's so sad.

Oh lord how sad. I have tears. No words.

Glad he got his final wish. What a special Santa to do that for him. Poor little guy.

Oh man....that's so sad....

No family present? How fortunate that that volunteer was able to make it there and do what he did.

Here is the complete story, the family WAS there.http://www.king5.com/news/nation-now/i-cried-all-the-way-home-santa-claus-grants-final-wish-to-a-dying-child/368010187

Oh, how sad and heartbreaking.

So sad! It was wonderful that this little guy got such a comforting send-off and "Santa" must have been a special person to treat the situation with the dignity it deserved.

God bless this man for giving that precious child a gift of his time and love. And may He give his peace to the family.

What a special man this Santa is to help this 5-year old boy start his new journey.

omg..what a sad, but such a loving thing for that man to do...his parents must have been comforted by the gentle passing...I couldn't bare to read the story...

Thanking God for that wonderful man giving a child his final wish.

Santa deserves a hug.

This is a great example of the usefulness of a child's capacity for 'magical thinking'. Small, weak, powerless and frightened in the big world around him, this five-year-old's belief in "Santa" eased his dying.

The story says this man has had professional training for the role of Santa. He sure took that to a whole 'nother level here.

(Color me skeptical on this one)

This was on our news last night. He was shedding tears as he was telling it.

After reading the story two or three times, I think I almost as struck by the way he wanted to stop doing what he'd done for so long, but the kids helped him see how much joy he brings, so he changed his mind. A man who wore his Santa suspenders in civilian life, was ready to quit, and the spirit of Christmas saved him to keep making people happy.

"In despair, Schmitt-Matzen was ready to hang up his suit. 'I’m just not cut out for this,' he reasoned.

But he mustered the strength to work one more show.

'When I saw all those children laughing, it brought me back into the fold. It made me realize the role I have to play. For them and for me.'"

He has a calling. He just needed to be reminded of it.

Denzel Washington was right about fake news. (and so was chloecat!)

"The story began to unravel on Tuesday, when Snopes ran a piece scrutinizing Schmitt-Matzen's account.

'The story kept spreading but with no second sourcing,' Arturo Garcia,
the Snopes reporter who wrote the follow-up, told CNNMoney. 'I think
part of the issue here is that a lot of outlets don't give their
reporters time to vet these things"

Lovely *story*, but evidently not proven.

The "Santa" not naming the child or the family, and all of the other things that people aren't identifying, isn't enough reason for me to believe that it's not true. I think it's admirable that identities are being protected.

Related thread

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4331441/santa-the-flip-side-tears?n=19

Stuff like this is pretty easy to prove if it's actually true, and when it isn't documented people have a responsibility to mistrust it, but our society doesn't want things to be true anymore, they want the story to be the story they want, even if later proven a hoax, whether it be Swift Boat, birth certificate, Microsoft paying for sending emails, feel-good story hoaxes or otherwise. Today, people have the gullibility to swallow anything put in front of them and a deep-rooted desire to believe fraud if it meets their "wish it was true" list.

You never go broke banking on peoples' gullibility. There's a "Nigerian General" proving it to this day.

Yes related threads. There is always a different take on the stories with different forums though embo. Like the story about the difference between the boy/girl covers of the magazine. Very different takes. I think it's very interesting.

Next you'll be telling us Santa is fake. I don't believe that.

No hospital has a record of any kid near that age dying on the alleged date. No name, no hospital, no credibility. A lying "Santa" is a disgrace to all good Santas out there. So many using the season to bilk people and that's really sad. Trying to self-promote and profiteer from something like this is disgusting. Best description I heard of it applies: He's nothing but a Ho Ho Hoax.