Santa got new legs.
Santa, a New Jersey shopping mall professional, nearly lost his leg, but recovered in time for the holidays.
“I'm still choking. They saved my leg and I'm very, very grateful,” Ronald Fierro told the Post.
Kris Kringle, a former high school teacher and doppelganger from Paterson, New Jersey, visited a vascular doctor because she had a wound that wouldn't heal.
“They ran tests and found that I had a pulse in three of my limbs, but my right leg was flatline. There was no blood flow. My toes and heel turned black,” he said. I started to think I might lose my legs,” said Fierro, 73, who suffers from diabetes.
In June, he underwent a surgery called pedal bypass at Maritime University Medical Center, in which a vein from his thigh was transplanted to his lower leg.
“If we didn't do anything, there was about a one-third chance that he would lose his leg,” said surgeon Dr. Nicholas Russo.
“Given the severity of Ron's condition, wound infection and peripheral artery disease, it is truly a Christmas miracle that he will be able to bring Christmas to so many children this year.”
At first, Russo didn't realize that her patient was playing Mr. Claus.
“He literally looks like Santa, but I didn't know that until the scheduling girls told me they had to postpone his angiogram because he wanted to go to the Santa convention,” Russo said with a laugh.
Fierro began physical therapy. His goal is to be healthy enough to bounce kids on his lap as Freehold Raceway Mall's beloved Santa Claus.
“I'm not playing Santa. I'm Santa,” he said.
Fierro first played the big man while working at East Orange High School, where he was asked to play Santa at the National Honor Society's tree lighting ceremony.
Word spread, he was asked to suit up at other schools in the district, and a new career was born.
“Eight years ago, when I retired, I was attending Santa School,” he explained of his time taking classes in Tampa, Florida. school 4 santahas bases all over the country.
At School4Santas, the world's largest Santa school, he received training on things like grooming his beard and how to deal with frightened children.
“There are kids who are scared to death, that's almost guaranteed. Some of them are fighting for their lives,” he said.
“They're all so excited and then they come up to me and freak out. Even my own granddaughter, who's 2 years old, was crying because she didn't realize I was Santa.”
Another time, “a couple put their young son next to my boots. . . . He gets up and runs. It was the first time he walked and they were making a fuss.” he recalled with a laugh.
Fierro, a member of the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas, the world's largest organization of professional Santas, also researches the history of St. Nicholas, the third-century bishop on whom Santa is based.
“A lot of people don't know that he was a bishop and took a vow of poverty. And he came from a wealthy family,” he explained.
Fierro, who is working double shifts this Christmas after a mall worker sprained his ankle, named the most popular toy on children's wish lists this season: “Barbie's Dream House is a frequently requested item. “I'm running,” he said. “Pokémon GO, Spider-Man is very popular…and there are a lot of dinosaurs too.”
