The boy, who could barely open the PAW Patrol toy that was given to him, hugged the man and asked him several quick questions.
“They say I’m going to die. How can I tell when I get to where I’m going?” the boy asked.
Schmitt-Matzen then told the boy that when he got there to say he was Santa’s No. 1 elf and he’d be let in.
Near the end of the visit, the boy asked one last question: “Santa, can you help me?”
“I wrapped my arms around him. Before I could say anything, he died right there. I let him stay, just kept hugging and holding on to him.”
Schmitt-Matzen said he ran past the family and the nurses’ station crying — questioning whether he was cut out to be Santa.