Although what he really wanted for Christmas was to be able to walk again, Nicholas Holguin did not turn Santa away when he visited him at the UCSF Medical Center yesterday. Nicholas, an eight-year-old from Stockton, has multiple sclerosis and was recently diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a disease in which cancer cells begin growing in muscle tissue.

Santa, played by Sgt. Jerome Graham, visits with Nicholas Holguin.

The UCSF Police Department heard about Nicholas, who has been at UCSF for ten weeks, and decided to “adopt” his family. Sergeant Jerome Graham dressed as Santa and, along with “elves” from the police department, delivered gifts for Nicholas, his parents, grandmother and three-month-old brother.

Although Nicholas opened a couple of the gifts he received from Santa, he saved the majority for Christmas, when most of his extended family will spend the day with him at the hospital. Nicholas’ mother, Raquel, said that for Christmas Nicholas had asked to walk again and to not have cancer but that he also asked for things for other people. “He’s not a selfish boy,” she said. “He asked for things for everybody else.”

1st appeared 12/23/97

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