A Santa’s helper has put his heart into the role after a little girl came to visit him at Danielle Foster Creations, a private portrait studio in Havertown, writes Phil Gianficaro for the Burlington County Times.

Kevin Chesney, 57, of Moorestown, has been a Santa helper for 40 years.

A few years ago, then 5-year-old Brynlee was at the studio for a Santa photo. Brynlee had been diagnosed with a form of leukemia and was receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

 “Here was this beautiful little girl with a bow on her head. We sat together. Talked. She took a beautiful picture.”

For two years after, he didn’t see her. He thought the worst.

Then one day she returned for a special visit.

“She came bouncing in — head full of beautiful hair, taller, smiling,” Chesney recalled. She gave him the Santa photo from a few years back.

“She said, ‘Santa, remember this was you and me! Do you remember me, Santa?’

“I lost it,” he said. “It was just so heartwarming to see her looking so healthy.”

She was in remission.

“That little girl coming back to see me, handing me that photo, was something I will never forget.”

Read more at the Burlington County Times about Kevin Chesney.