Children confide in Globe Santa about their health challenges

Globe Santa receives thousands of requests for assistance every year from parents, grandparents, guardians, and other caretakers who want their children to celebrate the holidays with gifts.

But inevitably, sprinkled among the heartfelt and often heartbreaking letters, are those written by children themselves.

And one thing that most children do very well is say exactly what’s on their minds.

“I’m so excited that it’s time to write to you again,” begins a letter from a 9-year-old boy. “I love Santa Claus and it’s the most exciting thing for me to have my picture taken with Santa Claus every year. “

Blessed with 21st-century-style self-awareness, the youngster wrote matter of factly that “I am an ASD and ADHD kid, for which I need daily medications and interventions.”

He credited the daily interventions with changing his perspective in a very profound way.

“I gradually felt the acceptance and love from my family, teachers, and even the whole society,” he wrote. “I began to open my heart and accept others with a smile. Everyone is proud of my progress and I feel great!”

Part of his daily routine is an exercise and occupational therapy program that serves a dual purpose, keeping fit and reducing the impact of stressors and racing thoughts.

“This year I fell in love with sports. I learned to climb ropes and to jump rope,” he wrote. “It’s tiring but I enjoy it.”

Another letter from a 6-year-old child, admittedly written with his mother’s help, gets right to the point.

“I am a little boy living in the emergency shelter system with my mom and dad,” he wrote. “We had to move from our apartment this year because we were evicted.”

He has “severe autism,” he wrote, and his mother had to leave her job to help take care of him. His father has battled mental illness and has been unable to maintain steady employment.

Despite their desperate situation, they remain optimistic that 2024 will be better.

“We are hoping for the holidays next year, we will be in our own apartment again,” he wrote. “But if you could help us this Christmas, I’m sure it would bring some joy to my family.”

Globe Santa will deliver presents for the holidays to both of these families, as well as thousands of others throughout Greater Boston, so that their children will have new games to play and books to read.

After what has been a trying year, tens of thousands of deserving children will share in the thrill of finding gifts with their name on them.

You can help put a smile on a child’s face by visiting globesanta.org.

Christopher Tangney can be reached at [email protected].

For 68 years Globe Santa, a program of the Boston Globe Foundation, has provided gifts to children in need at holiday time. Please consider giving by phone, mail, or online at globesanta.org.

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