My Crazy Life!: My favorite Santa

Many of you know that December 2006 was a very difficult holiday season for our family. My younger brother (I was 6 when he was born) was diagnosed with a relapse of lymphoma which had first been treated in the Spring/Summer of 2005.

Prior to his diagnosis, he had agreed to play Santa for his company's annual Open House. Although he was not well, he fulfilled the role and had an absolute blast. Between Christmas and New Year's, I travelled with him and his wife to MD Anderson to begin his treatment. He graciously agreed for me to be his primary caregiver which would allow his wife to be home with their children during the week. On weekends, she came to see him, and I returned home to my family. He underwent harsh chemo and suffered all of the standard side effects. In April 2007, he celebrated his new birthday when he received a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor. As part of this process, he underwent another difficult round of chemo and full body radiation in order to totally destory his immune system prior to the transplant. After receving his new donor cells, his immune system was equivalent to that of a newborn baby.

He was a model patient and tried so hard to do everything he possibly could to encourage a full recovery. He would walk laps around the nurses station several times a day, even when he really did not feel like getting out of bed. I met so many caregivers that endured difficult attitudes from their patients most of which were driven by the severe illnesses, steroids, etc. My brother was super. Never once did he say a cross or inconsiderate word to me. I would never wish this experience on anyone, but am so thankful that we had this time together.

After a difficult but successful recovery from the transplant, he was dismissed from the Houston area in July 2007. He wished so badly that he would be well enough to be Santa for 2007, but seriously doubted that the doctors would allow him to be in close contact with so many young children. When the time came, he sought approval from his doctor and was pleasantly surprised when the doc said "Yes!".

I was not able to see him in this role in 2007. For Christmas last year, my mother gave him a Santa suit pattern and promised to make him a custom Santa suit in time for his 2008 appearance.

Mom worked very hard and made him a beautiful suit. I was fortunate to be able to see him this past weekend as he once again portrayed Santa. He absolutely loves it. I know I'm a bit prejudiced, but I think he is the best Santa ever!