Woman raising grandson injured in horrific crash surprised with heartfelt gifts from a Secret Santa
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A local Secret Santa is giving $1 million to deserving people in eastern Idaho this holiday season and the East Idaho News elves are helping out.
Every day, from now until the end of the year, we’ll be posting a Secret Santa surprise and today we are visiting a deserving grandmother named Debi.
Debi has guardianship of her four grandchildren. Her grandson, Christian, was in a terrible car crash a few years ago. The driver died and Christian was left with a life-altering traumatic brain injury.
He was flown to St. Luke’s in Boise where he clung to life for six weeks. Debi never left his side. By the grace of God, he survived and spent the following 13 months at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. Debi stayed with him the entire time while still managing to make sure Christian’s three siblings were with trusted friends and adults.
Because Christian’s care is so intense, he was placed in a facility, but it has been Debi’s dream to bring him home to be with the family. She worked hard for years to put herself in the position to have him return home and just last month, she finally did it. She moved into a new house and brought him home.
Christian is resilient – going from being an average 10-year-old boy to having the mental capacity of a toddler. He is walking again, but his care is 24/7 and extremely labor intensive.
Debi takes care of Christian and his three siblings full-time. She has sacrificed everything to care for them, and she did everything in her power to keep her family together with the odds stacked against her. She is a remarkable person who has been through more than you can imagine.
Secret Santa asked the East Idaho News elves to go surprise Debi with an early Christmas gift. Watch the video in the player above!
