Many adults and children alike have the material things they list for Christmas. Others have wishes of a stronger need. For one little boy, his desire this year is physical and emotional. He simply wants a new face.

Bakhtiyer Sindrov is 5 years old. He was severely burned on most of his upper body while sleeping near a fireplace when the fire engulfed the area surrounding it.  He survived but the burns have left him completely unrecognizable and damaged emotionally and physically.

A friend recalled the terrible accident.

“He was very little when his face, head, neck, and shoulders got burned.”

“He was basically melting alive.”

As he got older, the child was teased and bullied at school. People stared at him in public.

Bakhtiyer asked his dad to write his words out in a letter to Santa. An organization that works with families with unique needs received the letter. The note read:

The boy wrote: “Hello Father Christmas! I was burned when I was a little boy. I lost my face in the fire and since then I have to hide from people because they are scared of me.

“I am scared of myself when I am looking in the mirror. I do not have a nose, ears or hair.

“My mum says that I will not go to school.

“I am often in pain, but I do not cry. My mother does.

“Father Christmas, give me a new face, please, I will never cry in my life then. I just want to be like other children.”

The letter was sent to “Ya ryadom” (“I Am Beside You”), a charitable organisation in the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan running a Facebook charity campaign called “Letters To Santa”.

After hearing of this touching request the group reached out to resources to help. Doctors in India have been able to give him new lips, eyelids, and teeth. He will also have a treatment for his neck very soon.

Every little step is gift that answers his Christmas wish.

Please pray for this young boy and others who are in physical and emotional pain this holiday season.