A terminally ill 5-year-old boy had his last wish fulfilled, dying in the arms of Santa Claus, as he was afraid that he will miss Christmas in the US state of Tennessee.

WBIR channel reported, Eric Schmitt-Matzen, a popular Santa in Knoxville city because of his 136-kg frame and real white beard and curled mustache, said through tears, "When I got there, it was my job to make sure he got Christmas."

Schmitt-Matzen said, a month and a half ago, he had just returned home from work when a nurse at a local hospital called him and said she had a very sick child who wanted to see Santa.

Schmitt-Matzen said that, "He was more concerned about missing Christmas, than dying."

When he arrived at the hospital, Schmitt-Matzen asked the boy, "What's this I hear you're going to be missing Christmas this year?" That's when the boy told him he heard he was going to die.

"Well, you're not going to miss Christmas, the elves already had your present, we knew you wanted this for a long time," he said to the boy.

According to Schmitt-Matzen, "Really?" the boy asked.

He then gave the boy the gift his mother had given "and that put a grin on his face," he said.

"When you get up those pearly gates, you just tell them you're Santa's number one elf," Schmitt-Matzen said to little boy.

"I am?" the boy asked, perking up, according to Schmitt- Matzen.

"You sure are, I'm sure they'll let you right in," he said.

The boy then gave him a big hug, he said, and "he just looked at me and said, Santa, can you help me?"

"And that's when he passed," Schmitt-Matzen said.

"I spent four years in the Army with the 75th Rangers, and I've seen my share of (stuff). But I ran by the nurses' station bawling my head off," he said.

"When I saw all those children laughing, it brought me back into the fold. It made me realise the role I have to play," said the part-time Santa.

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