Former patient 'Santa Joe' carries mantle for brother to visit ill kids in Jacksonville

When Santa Claus makes his annual pre-Christmas visit to the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville, the pediatric patients who get on his lap want to know details of his operation.

"How many elves are there?"

Exactly 1,957, says Santa, otherwise known as Joe McGee, who was born in 1957.

"Where are your reindeer?" At the Reindeer Games, of course, he tells them.

"I sprinkle a little blue fairy dust on their … chow during Reindeer Game season so they can fly just far enough to join in the games," he says. "On Christmas Eve morning I sprinkle red fairy dust on their reindeer chow so that lets them fly all night long. If they could fly all the time, I wouldn't be able to keep up with them."

The children also tell him their Christmas wishes. That's when Santa Joe sometimes has to pause before answering. They don't always ask for toys.

"All I want is to be well," some of the kids say.

Santa wishes the same for them, wishes he had the power to make them well. But he can only provide presents, hugs, love and a bit of joy.

"You cry later," he told the Times-Union.

Personal tie to UF Health

McGee, 66, has adopted the Santa persona every November and December for 10 years, except for a three-year pandemic gap when he made appearances at a distance. The Senoia, Ga., resident and his genuine long, white beard make 45 to 50 appearances annually, including regular visits at UF Health Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville and Children's Health Care of Atlanta. He pays his own expenses and raises funds for the two hospitals, a total of $465,000 so far split between them.

He has personal connections to both.

McGee was treated at the UF Health Institute in 2012 for prostate cancer. He was inspired by pediatric patients' positive attitude.

"You've got grown men groaning and moaning, [but ill] kids playing on the floor," he said.

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His connection to the Atlanta hospital stems from a childhood friend whose late daughter was a patient there and from a child he visited there on what would be "her last Christmas," he said. Also, the hospital is the major blood disorder and pediatric cancer facility in the Southeast, he said.

So in 2013, McGee decided to take up the mantle left behind by his late half-brother, David, who started playing Santa for hospitalized children after his twin granddaughters were born prematurely in 2007. He continued for three years prior to his death in 2010 at 59.

"He loved it," McGee said.

Everything Santa Joe does is for children and to honor his brother. The fund that donates to the two hospitals is called the Santa David Children's Fund.

Like David, McGee attended the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School in Midland, Mich., established in 1937, which claims to be the world's oldest. At the school and since, he learned the importance of being Santa.

"You think you're playing Santa," but it's no game to the children, he said. They are looking into Santa's eyes and "seeing the North Pole," he said.

"Giving is so much better than receiving," McGee said. "When you see their smiles … 'Santa, I love you so much.' I enjoy it."

This year he has had numerous family crises. His wife underwent treatment for a brain aneurysm, their daughter died from kidney failure. But his Santa show continued.

"It's been a rough year," he said, citing the family's "strong faith" as fuel. "I can't sit here and twiddle my thumbs."

McGee's Georgia community supports his Santa efforts. One woman baked $1,700 worth of cookies for him to take on his visits. His employees and customers — he still runs the machine specialties company he and his late brother began — also are in his corner.

"They know what I'm doing every November and December," he said.

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Canadians Cory and Amanda Witzel brought their daughter Kenzie, 4, to the UF Institute for treatment of a brain tumor. They, Kenzie and her two siblings, Remy and Lucy, were all on hand for Santa Joe's recent visit.

"Santa Joe was the most authentic Santa," Amanda Witzell said. "Because we’re away from home, it’s nice to see the joy on the kids’ faces and have them experience the same things that they’d experience at home. Except the experiences here are better than they’d get at home."

Kim Vo of Australia brought her 3-year-old son Chase to Jacksonville for treatment for an eye tumor. Chase was told about Santa's visit in advance and when they arrived, "he was running around looking for him and asking 'Where is Santa?' Once Santa arrived, he was completely stunned," she said.

"It means a lot to us because we want to still give him everything that he should be experiencing. I don’t want this whole treatment to take so much out of his childhood," she said.

Proton therapy is a form of radiation therapy that uses protons rather than traditional X-rays. By targeting cancer cells more precisely, it creates less damage to surrounding tissue and causes fewer side effects, according to the UF institute.

The Jacksonville facility opened in 2006 and underwent a $39 million expansion in 2018. At least 11,000 patients have been treated there since, including about 2,200 children.

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The average age of pediatric patients is 9, the average stay is eight weeks. The positive effect Santa's visits have on the children and their families cannot be underestimated, according to pediatric radiation oncologist Dr. Daniel Indelicato, a professor at the UF College of Medicine, who has often watched McGee in action.

"He’s the real deal," Indelicato, known to patients as "Dr. Danny," said. "He has this natural twinkle in his eye that is just the right combination of mischief and joy you would expect from St. Nick. That is not something you can pick up in a costume store. … The profound generosity he shows our patients and families is truly the essence of Christmas."

While children diagnosed with cancer face numerous physical and mental challenges, their parents and siblings "experience tremendous anxiety, often layered with sadness and guilt," Indelicato said. "This is particularly impactful for our families from out of town … and this feeling of isolation may be particularly acute during the holidays, like Christmas."

So the institute seeks opportunities to "shift the environment from a scary medical clinic into a festive party, like Santa’s workshop," he said. "Santa Joe … walks into the building and all this worry and discomfort falls away. There is smiling, there is laughing. There is friendship, familiarity and community. It's transformative. And I’m grateful to just stand aside and watch."

Child Life Specialist Jasmine Miller said a Santa Joe visit is a "normalizing experience" amid a traumatic one.

"It can be such a scary time for them and often they don’t understand the severity of their circumstances," she said. "Being able to offer … a visit from Santa at the holidays is just one way that we can offer them an experience that any other child would also be able to have. It allows the patients to do the same things as their peers but in a setting that is safe for them to do so."

It also provides a setting for patients and families undergoing "similar hardships" to bond with each other, Miller said.

"He is, hands-down, the absolute best Santa that I have ever had the pleasure of working with," she said. "He was fantastic with the kids, was mindful of their circumstances … You truly never know when a cancer patient’s last Christmas will be."

Being the one to contact Santa Joe last March to arrange this year's visit, she said, was a gift.

"I have the best job in the world being able to bring such joy to our patients and their families," she said.

bcravey@jacksonville, (904) 359-4109

SANTA JOE

To donate online or get more information, go to therealdealsanta.com. Make checks out to the Santa David Children's Fund, P.O. Box 1284, Griffin, Ga. 30224; to pay via Venmo, go to account.venmo.com/u/Santa-Joe-McGee; via PayPal, go to paypal.com/paypalme/SantaJoe. Information is also available at facebook.com/santajoemcgee.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Santa Joe spreads joy for children treated for cancer in Jacksonville