Texas Mom Accuses Santa Claus of Refusing Her Special Needs Child

A Texas mother was angry at a person posing as Santa Claus when the man allegedly refused to let her special needs sit on his lap.

According to the New York Daily News, a woman named Megan Self took her 1-year-old son Caleb, who is suffering from a genetic brain and muscle disorder, to see Santa Claus at Bass Pro Shops in San Antonio, Texas.

She added that she wanted her son Caleb to experience sitting in Santa's lap and said that she unhooked her son from his breathing apparatus and other medical equipment after waiting in line for a free picture with the man posing as Santa.

However, she said that Santa awkwardly stood with her son for the picture before quickly handing him back.

"We've been through a lot this year -- physically, mentally, emotionally, financially and everything. This was basically the icing on the cake," Self said.

According to AJC, Self said that Caleb had been hospitalized 11 times since March.

In a related report from Statesman, the store Bass Pro Shops apologized to the mother of the special needs child after the incident.

Bass Pro said in a statement that, "This is not something we feel great about." However, the boy's mother refused the company's offer of a gift certificate and a one-on-one photo session with Santa and Caleb and suggested that they make a donation to medical research instead.

The company reiterated that Santa Claus and the others involved in the free photo sessions do go through sensitivity training and added that more than a million free photos with Santa will be given away this year alone.

A man named Glen Burkett, who posed as Santa Claus, defended himself from the controversy and explained that the child was brought to him "strapped in a wheelchair and on a ventilator."

The family then unhooked the child from the vent and placed him in his arm "with a plastic tube in his throat," he said.

He said that he was stunned about Caleb's condition, but carefully walked in front of the camera, with no direction from the family on how to handle the child.

Burkett said that he held the boy at a slant so his face would appear in the photos.

Finally, he also added that the family seemed pleased with the photo and never requested a retake. Furthermore, the next he heard from Caleb's family was when they contacted a television station and claimed that he refused to sit the boy on his lap.

The Selfs have yet to respond to Burkett's statement, but eventually got the photo that they wanted with Santa.