Firefighters hoist Santa, superheroes to wave to patients inside Children’s Wisconsin on Christmas

By Kathryn Merck

Click here for updates on this story

    MILWAUKEE (WDJT) — Patients spending the holiday in the hospital were able to get a visit from some of their favorite figures this Christmas.

Firefighters from the Milwaukee, St. Francis, West Allis and Wauwatosa Fire Department helped hoist Santa and superheroes up to the windows at Children’s Wisconsin.

The tradition started seven years ago because of the personal experience of Trevor Pinkalla, a Milwaukee firefighter.

“My son actually had third stage kidney cancer when he was a 2-year-old, and he was here for 6 months,” Pinkalla said. “He was here during Easter, and we realized how hard it was to be away from family and away from all your friends and the people that you care about.”

Curtis DeKoning watched the smiles and waves from the ground, while his wife and newborn daughter were inside the hospital.

“Our youngest daughter was born on Nov. 6 and she has a pretty severe heart defect that required heart surgery,” Dekoning said. “It’s been a blessing to be here with such good care, but also a hard thing to be away from family and everybody else.”

This Christmas, DeKoning is smiling with the crews at the event, but he’s also receiving the best gift he could have asked for.

“We’re really blessed to be going home on Christmas after a pretty long fall season,” DeKoning said. “I think we’re just going to sit by the fire and take it all in for 10 minutes because we haven’t had our family all together .”

While excited to hold his daighter, DeKoning and his family will also hold the memory of this event close as he remembered there are people here to support the families in the hospital.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.