Anonymous Donor Gives Widower With 7 Children $10,000 for the Holidays

Dad Dakota Nelson was overcome with emotion at the gesture.

Right in time for the holidays, a widower who is raising his children alone after his wife died received $10,000 from an anonymous donor. 

Dakota Nelson has to work three jobs as he adjusts to life as a single parent to seven children, ages 1 through 16. In July, Nelson found his late wife, Ream, 38, unconscious and lying on the ground outside their home.

“We were working in the garage, goofing around and having fun, and [I] came back and she just was dead on the ground basically,” Nelson told the East Idaho News.

Doctors said she had lacked oxygen to her brain for more than 20 minutes. She was in a coma for weeks before she passed away in September.

This Christmas, as the family still grapples with the loss, they will have something to smile about. East Idaho News showed up to Nelson’s home to surprise him with the $10,000. 

Secret Santa asked we take him a $1,000 in gift cards, also $1,000 to another store and an $8,000 check,” Nate Eaton, who works for the news outlet, says in video recorded of the moment they surprised Nelson.

Nelson’s jaw dropped as he saw all the zeros. The dad was overcome with emotion and burst into tears. 

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