Anson boy's selfless letter to Santa earns response

ANSON — When Anson Middle School student Noel Somoza was asked to pen a letter to Santa as part of a school assignment, he didn't hold back.

But while most kids his age are asking for games, toys and things to entertain themselves, Noel has a much more selfless request this Christmas.

For a seventh-grade writing class assignment, he asked the deliverer of Christmas joy to help his sister, 5-year-old Cierra, get healthy.

More:Noel Somoza's letter to Santa, and Santa's reply

A day later, the family's Elf on the Shelf had a surprise waiting for him in the morning. In his hand was a hand-written response from Santa.

"I was happy he responded," Noel said. "I loved hearing how he felt about (her conditions) too. I just want her to get better. It's the only thing that means anything to me."

In his letter, Noel implores Santa to help Cierra feel better. "I really want her to be spectacular," he wrote. "She means everything to me in the whole wide world."

Cierra, according to her adoptive mother, Michele Somoza, has been diagnosed with several medical maladies that left her clinging to life over some past Christmases, prompting Noel's repeated Christmas wish.

Her long list of struggles over her short life have included dysautonomia, epilepsy, hypotension and hypoglycemia. 

Not only these, which include disorders that cause organ pain, cardiac problems and stomach issues, but Cierra is also legally blind and partially deaf, depending on how her brain is functioning in the moment, her mother said.

Cierra has had 16 surgeries since she was born and has spent more time in the hospital than out of it the past three years of her life.

"Having a medically fragile child means never leaving the house without a diaper bag, spare feeding tubes, extra feeding bags, Ferrell bags, formula, daily medication, emergency medications, blood pressure cuff, pulse ox, thermometer, oxygen, oxygen tubing, tape,  life support equipment, money for gas and food and a plan for babysitting for the other four siblings at home," Somoza said in a Facebook message to the Reporter-News.

"It also means every time you walk out the door not knowing If you and your child will be coming home together. Our boys always say goodbye to their sister before they leave for school and ask me if I will be home when they get back from school. Everyday it’s the same answer: I hope so."

All of that constant worrying started to turn around for the family this year, she said, as the numerous and expensive treatments slowly began to work. She was improving, meaning Noel's constant Christmas wish began to become reality.

Then Cierra fell and broke her arm. It was back to the hospital and Noel was prompted, once again, to ask for his sister's health.

Word of the family's struggles reached Anson writing teacher Belinda Heller only when she reviewed the letters she assigned the students to write. She gave Noel's effort a perfect score of 100 and struggled to hold back her emotions when asked about her feelings on what he created.

"I was pretty taken aback," Heller said. "I was really pleased. I thought he did a really good job. You could tell there was a lot of thought put into what he wrote."

It was the first time Heller gave the assignment, but she said, even forgetting Noel's touching letter, it was a roaring success because it combined teaching elements of grammar and writing, like using compound sentences, with allowing expression.

While some students wrote they wanted dirt bikes and video games for Christmas, there were other requests like Noel's. Some asked for money to feed the homeless.

It's a mentality, Heller said, that was discussed in class before she officially assigned the letters.

As for Noel, he's fully aware writing a letter to Santa won't actually help his sister get better. But he will try anything at this point.

Santa's reply, written by his mother and a friend, says that children like Cierra touch people's hearts and "helps us to grow into caring, nurturing and empathetic people. We learn that our purpose in life is to be kind and help others — to not be greedy or get pleasure in revenge when others have done us wrong, yet let her light shine shine thru us in forgiveness."

Adopted himself, Noel said he loves his sister more than anything else in the universe. Even more than his favorite school subject, science.

"She's my sister, and I love her," Noel said. "She means everything to me. She's the only thing that keeps me going."