“I’m sure if Miles could speak, he would have been excited to see Santa," his mom said.
A 2-year-old in hospice care had a special visit from St. Nick on what will very likely be his last Christmas.
Miles Agnew, 2, of Salt Lake City, Utah, could barely keep his eyes open when Santa Claus paid him a visit at Primary Children’s Hospital last week.
“I’m sure if Miles could speak, he would have been excited to see Santa,” his mom Michelle Agnew told InsideEdition.com. “Miles was very weak during his Santa visit, unfortunately [but] I think he appreciates it and he would have been pretty excited if he was awake.”
Miles was born with microcephaly and also suffers from spastic quadriplegia, epilepsy and brain malformations.
He is also visually impaired and has trouble eating.
His mom, who adopted Miles when he was just 3 months old, said his seizures have been getting worse lately and believes the boy may only have days left to live.
That’s when Jeff Bodily, who has been dressing up as Santa Claus for the last 35 years, was contacted through volunteers from Secret Sleigh Project, which pairs local Santas with kids nearing the end of their lives.
“It was like holding a doll in my hands,” Bodily told InsideEdition.com. “I was choked up, seeing him like that. I just wanted to help make their Christmas memories continue at least one more year.”
Bodily, who has worked in malls in years past, explained that when he was contacted about visiting Miles, he felt a personal connection to the family’s story.
“In the 70s, when I met my former wife, she has two little girls,” he explained. “One was 5, one was 3-and-a-half. Her 3-and-a-half-year-old had hyperplastic left heart syndrome, and she passed away. It brings back a few memories, so I’ve always wanted to do stuff like that.”
Bodily said he stayed with the family for about an hour, and took pictures with Miles on his lap as he slept.
“Every year, when he sees Santa, he seems to be able to see him and just lights up,” Michelle said. “He probably doesn’t understand much about Christmas because the first year, he was just 1 and his second Christmas, he was in the hospital, but I know he loves the lights and he loves crinkling wrapping paper.”
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