Idaho’s famous “Secret Santa” is still making headlines, this time surprising the parents of a baby boy born with a severe heart defect with some much-needed help.
East Idaho News reported that locals Kelsey and Scott learned their son Spencer’s heart did not form correctly after he was born in July. Spencer was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS).
Kelsey knew from her experience having a brother with the same condition that this would be an uphill battle for Spencer, who underwent his first open heart surgery at six days old.
The infant was “bounced between the NICU and CICU,” and was ready to come home but an IV in his leg “became infiltrated and caused medical problems,” the outlet reported.
Spencer then had to undergo another emergency surgery to save his foot, and he has been in and out of the hospital ever since.
The baby had yet another surgery on November 8, and the family had to travel by medical helicopter multiple times due to his condition.
The boy’s father, Scott, is currently in school, and his mother, Kelsey, just graduated and passed her nursing exam.
“She is trying hard to work when she can and take care of her little boy,” reporter Nate Eaton said.
Fortunately, an anonymous donor who teamed up with the East Idaho News team to give out $1 million to people this Christmas season, heard of Spencer’s story and asked Eaton to pay the family a visit.
After weeks of trying to track the parents down as they traveled back and forth to Utah for Spencer’s medical appointments, the camera crew was finally able to surprise Scott at his parents’ house.
Scott explained that Kelsey was sick with the coronavirus, so “that’s why we’re at [the] grandparents’ today.”
“We’re glad we could find you … We just have a gift from an anonymous Secret Santa,” Eaton said, handing Scott a gift.
Scott opened the box to reveal $1,000 in gift cards to assorted restaurants.
“Oh, my goodness … oh my gosh,” he said as he held Spencer in his other arm. “Thank you so much!”
Eaton opened the other part of the gift so that Scott could feed his son, revealing $2,000 in gas gift cards to aid in the family’s travel expenses to Spencer’s treatment in Salt Lake City.
“Oh my gosh,” Scott said while tearing up. “Thank you … thank you so much for everything.”
The Secret Santa has been surprising Idaho residents since November, including a mother of a special needs child, a family who lost everything to a house fire, and a pair of grandparents with health issues.