East Idaho’s Secret Santa strikes again!
And this time, the lovely recipient is a brand new family of three, Maria, Alex, and Angel Cortez.
Maria had given birth prematurely to Angel, who was only 1lb 10oz. when he was born.
It was actually an emergency delivery that’s why Angel was born four months earlier on July 13, 2020.
Unfortunately, when Angel was born, his condition was diagnosed as “grave” and needed to be transferred to the Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, around 300 miles away from where they live in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Because it was too far away to travel back and forth from Idaho Falls, Alex had to get a temporary job locally so he can be with his family every day.
And to make matters worse, their car broke down and they had to borrow Maria’s sister’s car so they can continue to go around.
Maria worked at an assisted living facility in Idaho and everyone, including the staff, the patients, and the patient’s relatives love Maria.
One of the relatives was the one who told Secret Santa about her and her situation.
Nate Eaton of East Idaho News traveled to Salt Lake City to deliver the farthest Secret Santa gift so far.
He waited four hours outside the hospital for Maria or Alex to arrive so he can give them their gift.
Once they got word that Maria had arrived, they quickly made their way inside the hospital so they could surprise her with Secret Santa’s gift.
They hadn’t gotten in touch with them earlier to check if they were there because it wouldn’t be a surprise now, would it?
Nate waited in the lobby for Maria, who came out with a confused look on her face.
Nate quickly introduced himself as the package she was going to sign for.
Before he gave her Secret Santa’s gift, Nate asked how they were all doing.
Maria told him that Angel was doing better and he has gone from 1 lb to 8 lbs after four months of intensive care.
But of course, it hasn’t been easy, especially since Maria, Alex, and Angel are all far away from home and their families.
This video was shot during the first year of the pandemic so their families can’t just drive down to them to visit any time they wanted.
It was really just the three of them battling it out together.
It’s a good thing their son is a fighter and he is fighting to live.
Nate handed her a box, which was parts 1 and 2 of Secret Santa’s gift for them.
Inside the box was gasoline gift cards worth $3,000 and a $1,000 check. And then Nate handed her a smaller box.
When Maria opened it, she was confused to find a toy car inside.
Nate surprised her and said that was the representation of a real car that was waiting for her in Idaho Falls.
They couldn’t bring the car down to Salt Lake City so they just brought the small car to represent it.
That’s when Maria burst into tears.
After all the hardships, they’ve gone through for the past months, they’ve finally been given a break.
“We heard your car broke down and you’re using a relative’s [car],” Nate explained. “You don’t have to use [their] car anymore because Secret Santa bought you a car.”
There were hospital staff members at the Welcome Desk watching the whole exchange.
They couldn’t help but cheer and shed tears for this little family’s good fortune.
We can’t blame them.
We’ll probably be bawling our eyes out, too, if we were there.
Meet Maria, Alex, and Angel, the little family whose Christmas got a little bit brighter in the video below.
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