On July 11, 2018, Dakota and Ream Nelson were cleaning out their garage. Dakota left his wife of 17 years for a just moment to put some tools in the garage and when he returned 5 minutes later, she had collapsed.

Their 3-year-old was there talking to her because Ream’s eyes were still open and he thought she could hear him. But she couldn’t.

Dakota thought maybe she had choked and started CPR. When their 8-year-old walked into the garage, he started screaming.

It wasn’t until their 12-year-old son came out to the garage that anyone had the wherewithal to call 911. He put on a show for the other kids to watch so they would be distracted during the chaos and went to wave down the ambulance.

Before the paramedics arrived, a neighbor with a defibrillator tried to help restart Ream’s heart. They did get a pulse. According to the Idaho State Journal, she had a sudden, unexpected arrhythmia. She had been perfectly healthy with no family history of heart trouble.

The Nelsons have 7 children. At the time, they ranged in age from 1 to 16. And they all surrounded their mother as she passed away three months later on September 30.

At first, they had hoped she would pull through. But by the time she reached Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls doctors said her brain had been without oxygen for 20 minutes. After two weeks in the ICU she was transferred to a long-term care facility and the family hoped that she might be able to recover and have a decent quality of life.

But in late September her body had become septic and she had no hope of recovery. Her family finally had to let her go. She was 38.

Dakota is now a single father of 7 working three part-time jobs to support his family.

Christmas of 2018 was going to be tough, but thanks to some generous community members, the Nelson family had a happier holiday than they might have.

The East Idaho News ran Dakota’s story in early December, asking for donations and giving readers a link to the family’s GoFundMe page.

When they were ready to present him with the “Secret Santa” donations, they approached him as he left work.

As he stood with his children by his side, he was handed a box with an $8,000 check and $2,000 worth of gift cards.

Dakota was completely overcome with emotion at the generosity of complete strangers and the huge surprise. He could barely speak.

When he could, he revealed that the family didn’t have a vehicle large enough to transport them all at the same time, so the money was desperately needed to buy one.

In a little over a year since Ream died, the family has also received over $56,000 of their $250,000 goal via their GoFundMe account.

Throughout it all, Dakota has been teaching his children about gratitude and he wrote the following after their Christmas “miracle,” along with his two oldest children:

“It is hard to write this as I am at a total loss of words. There is no way for me to accurately convey how grateful we are for this kindness. As I was surprised with the gifts, I looked at my kids – who will remember this event forever as the best time they had in a hard time. Thank you for being an example to my family on how to look out for the needs of others.

I have noticed that through this ordeal, we have been blessed to see kindness replace the pain of losing a loved one whom I had been married to for 17 years. My children have noted this and have stated that they want to do the same for others.

Thank you again for making this Christmas special.”

Be sure to scroll down to see the special moment that made a devastated family’s holiday special.

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Source: East Idaho News, GoFundMe, East Idaho News via YouTube, Idaho State Journal