Santa’s best Christmas - "It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done as Santa"

[The Straight Story]

Santa’s best Christmas


It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done as Santa.

KANATA - Harry Riley has bounced thousands of children on his knee over the past half century.

But his best day playing Santa Claus came in the fall of 2006, when he brought Christmas to Brian, a six-year-old boy dying of cancer.

Brian wanted to spend one last Christmas with his family, but wasn’t expected to live past the fall.

The east-end Ottawa boy hoped Santa would come to his house a little early that year.

Brian had always loved the yuletide season – the bright lights, gifts under the tree, time spent with his mother, father and sister.

But during his short life, the boy spent most of his holidays in a hospital isolation ward, where only one parent was allowed to visit at a time; and whenever Santa visited the ward, Brian could only wave at him through the glass.

In October 2006, The Children’s Wish Foundation called Riley, who played Santa at the Carlingwood Mall, asking him to fulfill the boy’s final request.

http://www.yourottawaregion.com/news/local/article/246876--santa-s-best-christmas

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