Santa visits NICU baby to take special Christmas photo

AJ Mercer will have two photos with Santa Claus to remember his first Christmas by.

For one of them, his parents Alyssa and Shawn stood in line at the Alexandria Mall. Two-month-old AJ couldn't be there because he still is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital. So his parents brought a picture of him for Santa to pose with.

Alyssa said she "felt weird" standing in line without a kid like everyone else. And she felt equally weird telling Santa her request.

"I made my husband do it because I didn't know what to say," she said.

But Shawn shared their son's story with the photographer at the mall and then Santa, who both thought it was anything but weird.

"He (Santa) said, 'When I heard you guys' story, it broke my heart,'" Alyssa said.

So as Mr. Claus is known to do, he went above and beyond to grant the family's request this Christmas. He told AJ's parents he would stop by the hospital, located next door to the mall, after he got off that night.

"I thought, 'What if he's just being nice?'" Alyssa said.

But holding out hope, she told her sister and mom about it. She also warned some of the NICU staff, which turned out to be a good thing. Nurses called around 7 p.m. and said, "Santa's here to see AJ."

"We got in the car, I was like 'Hurry, we gotta go; Santa's here,'" Alyssa said.

When they got to the hospital, some people were still confused.

"Security was like Santa's here, and they were like 'What?'" Alyssa said, recalling some of the NICU nurses' reactions.

Besides posing for a picture, Santa also brought AJ an early Christmas present — a stuffed teddy bear.

What did Santa himself have to say about all this? The Alexandria Mall Mr. Claus, also known as Larry Paige, said the story did indeed "break his heart."

"It moved me to tears," Paige said of the Mercer's request. "I had to go."

And he did, because, "Well, it's Christmas," Paige said.

"What's 30 minutes or even an hour gonna do out of my life at 63?" he said. "And what does God put us here for but to share love and kindness. ... Especially at Christmas time."

Besides, Paige added, it's his job to bring "Christmas cheer" to those without the things and the people others take for granted. He said one family this Christmas stopped by the mall with a photo of their baby who had died.

Although some may not get to hear about the circumstances others are facing, "sitting in that chair (as Santa), it comes to you," Paige said.

"It's definitely special," Alyssa said of what Paige did. "It's definitely going to be a fun story to tell him (AJ)."

When AJ's maternal grandmother found out about the whole thing, Alyssa said her reply was, "See, Santa is real."

AJ, whose full name is Anthony Jude, has been in the NICU at Cabrini for more than two months now. He was born at 24 weeks on Oct. 13 and weighed one pound and seven ounces.

"It was a surprise," Alyssa said of her son being born so early.

Mercer learned during her pregnancy she had a condition called cervical insufficiency, which caused AJ's premature birth. The 2-month-old also has had heart surgery already because doctors found a murmur. He now weighs just over three pounds.

The Mercers have spent Halloween and Thanksgiving in the NICU already and will be there for Christmas and New Year's. They're hoping to be out before Valentines.

The family came to Central Louisiana because Shawn is in the military. They lived at Fort Polk until AJ was born, then moved to Alexandria to be closer to him.

Before AJ came early, the family had plans to leave Cenla. Shawn was supposed to report to a base in Kentucky this week. Now, Alyssa said, they probably will stick around for another year.

"AJ had different plans for us," she said.