‘Secret Santa’ Visits Desperate Family After Dad’s Leg Amputated, and He Can’t Finish Building Their Home

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Brad and Erica Crow, from Idaho, have struggled to provide for their family, including their two adopted kids, since a series of devastating health issues struck the father. But just when they needed it most, just before the Holidays this year, Secret Santa unexpectedly showed up at their doorstep with an early Christmas gift.

It started when Brad was just 14 years old and was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer. As a teen, he endured extensive treatment including radiation, chemotherapy, and even a bone replacement.

Brad eventually recovered and married his wife, Erica, with whom he adopted two children to make their family complete. In the summer of 2018, the family decided to commence work on their dream home, but it wasn’t long before disaster struck: Brad fractured his replacement leg bone on the building site.

The injury worsened, eventually requiring surgery, and much worse, Brad then developed a staph infection during the recovery process, necessitating the amputation of his left leg entirely. Then, he needed a hip replacement.

“I almost died a few times, it was pretty scary,” Brad regaled, speaking to Inside Edition. The Crow family was devastated, their home build was put on hold indefinitely, and they faced dire financial difficulties. Meanwhile, they were living out of a temporary trailer.

Fighting for his life had kept Brad from being able to work; Erica, putting on a brave face, joked that she often referred to her stay-at-home husband as “Mr. Mom.”

Erica provided for the family during her husband’s lengthy recovery by working as a school bus driver, but her income was not enough to compensate for mounting medical bills. That was until the family received a knock at the door from some familiar faces.

In moving video footage shared by Inside Edition on YouTube, Erica opens the door and is immediately overwhelmed; she recognizes Secret Santa’s Nate Eaton and the East Idaho News team and anticipates what is about to happen.

An anonymous benefactor, “Secret Santa,” had decided to gift Brad with health insurance for one entire year, and the family with US$50,000 to be used toward building their brand-new home.

Both Brad and Erica are in tears as they discover the full magnitude of their life-changing Christmas gift. “We’re just taking it one day at a time,” Brad exclaims, “and this is an awesome day.”

Since 2015, East Idaho News has conducted an annual Secret Santa giveaway in which life-changing cash gifts from an anonymous benefactor are presented to struggling members of the east Idaho community. In 2019, cash donations totaling US$500,000 were handed out to deserving recipients, having been nominated by their community and hand-picked by the benefactor himself.

East Idaho News welcomed nominations from schools, medical and religious leaders, employers, neighbors, and friends, and pledged to surprise a different recipient every single day from early November until Christmas Day 2019.

“This is how you change lives,” one viewer wrote after watching the Crows’ story on YouTube. “Whomever this Secret Santa is, let’s pray he or she lives forever.”

“With all the negativity in this decade, seeing this really makes me happy and warms my heart,” another person added.

Throughout their struggles, the Crows maintained that their faith in God helped keep their heads above water. “Just got to keep going,” Brad asserted. “Have faith everything is going to be okay. That’s all you can do.”

The Crows were nominated for Secret Santa’s assistance by Erica’s sister, and their gift of $50,000 was nothing short of an early Christmas miracle.