Parents who had two kids in Primary Children’s on different floors get big surprise from a Secret Santa
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The EastIdahoNews.com team is busy this holiday season helping a local man gift $1 million to deserving people in eastern Idaho. Secret Santa is a real person who wants to remain anonymous and hopes to bless as many individuals in our community as he can.
Sereneti and Andy Migel have five adorable children. They are wonderful, hard-working, kind people. Serenti is always helping her friends and neighbors — taking meals, dropping off flowers or babysitting for families in need.
Their youngest daughter, Merry Hope, is 2 years old and was born with congenital cervical kyphosis, a birth defect where her neck curves the wrong direction. Merry also has extensive tumors on her spine.
The Migels took Merry to Primary Children’s Hospital in July where she stayed for one month. She had two surgeries to straighten her neck and remove the tumors.
A few weeks after being admitted, the Migel’s 11-year-old son, Spencer, was taken to the emergency room. He had been having severe pain in his lower abdomen and was vomiting a lot. The doctor discovered a large mass and he was also admitted to Primary Children’s Hospital where he spent five days, overlapping Merry’s stay.
The biopsy showed the growth was ganglioneuroblastoma intermixed variant, a type of cancer. Spencer had surgery last month at Primary Children’s to remove the tumor.
Merry is now home but still has a tracheotomy and a large spine and shoulder collar to stabilize her
neck. She will have more procedures next year.
The Migels have remained positive and optimistic through all of their challenges. Secret Santa asked the East Idaho News team to pay them a visit with some early Christmas gifts. Watch the video above to see Sereneti’s response!
