‘I better get my oxygen!’ Man raising grandkids after daughter’s death left speechless opening Secret Santa gift
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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 surprising a grandfather named John.
John has always been willing to help others and never asks for help himself. Just a few weeks ago, John and his wife, SanDee lost their daughter, Melissa, after a long battle with cancer. Melissa was a single mother of three with two teenagers still at home.
Melissa worked as a school bus driver until she could no longer drive and had to quit. Throughout this fight, John has been her rock! He has lovingly taken her to numerous doctor appointments and radiation and chemo treatments when she had no one else. It has been hard on them to watch her continually get sicker. He loves his family very much and selflessly would do anything to help them.
The day after the funeral, John was hospitalized with pneumonia and blood clots. He spent four days at the hospital, and thankfully, there was no heart damage. They released him to come home but he is currently on oxygen. Through it all, he continues to put his family first.
Now they are the caregivers for the two children and have brought them to their home. They are trying to help them through the loss and keep their lives as close to normal. John will now be driving them across town each day to and from their schools so they can remain with friends and teachers they know.
Secret Santa asked the East Idaho News elves to pay John a visit and surprise him with a gift. Check out the video in the player above!
