I first met long-time Wesley Chapel resident Paul Bartell a couple of dozen years in the past, when he was the volunteer occasion chair for the American Most cancers Society’s Relay for Life. My spouse Jannah, who I had solely met the earlier yr on the similar occasion, was the Most cancers Society’s employees group consultant operating the present at that Relay.
It was a scorching day and Paul had been there all the day, his face beet pink from working within the solar. And, regardless that I didn’t know he additionally had been dressing up as Santa Claus for teenagers and occasions all through the Tampa Bay space for a few years, I keep in mind that I positively thought he regarded slightly like Ol’ St. Nick himself.
I additionally didn’t know again then that Paul and his spouse Jamie had two sons — James and Sean — or that Sean would go away (at age 16) solely a few years after I met Paul, from a uncommon pores and skin and blood dysfunction generally known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (or SJS).
Together with his ruddy complexion and nice demeanor, Paul was seemingly born to painting Santa. Actually, he has been taking part in the jolly man for 30 years, the final 22 in and across the Wesley Chapel space. He clearly delights within the position and has continued to make dozens of appearances as St. Nick annually, even within the tough years since Sean handed away.
Actually, Paul says, it was Christmas Day in 2014 when Sean, who was then lined within the blisters and lesions related to SJS (which begins with flu-like signs and is normally attributable to a extreme opposed response to sure drugs and must be handled instantly at an emergency room when the signs first manifest) was not the promising younger man who was fifth in his graduating class at Wesley Chapel Excessive (WCH). “He was in a lot ache and there was nothing Jamie and I might do to assist him,” Paul remembers. “It was such a horrible, helpless feeling.”
And, though SJS is simply deadly in about 7.5% of instances, Sean misplaced his battle on New Yr’s Eve that very same yr. However, his devastated dad and mom might solely consider how a lot Sean beloved faculty and the way a lot they needed to one thing optimistic to return out of their household’s tragedy.
Enter: The Basis
“There’s little question that schooling was all the time Sean’s focus,” Paul says. “He was planning to review biology at Vanderbilt College.” In response to the web site for the Sean Bartell Memorial Basis (SeanBartell.org), which the Bartells began in 2015, the household’s church, Atonement Lutheran on S.R. 54, got here to them wanting to begin a scholarship in Sean’s title, which is how the concept obtained began.
That first yr (2015), the Basis gave its first $1,000 scholarship/grant to then-WCH senior Meghan Sanchez. Right now, the Basis has awarded $74,000 to college students and greater than $10,000 extra to lecturers at Wesley Chapel, Wiregrass Ranch, Cypress Creek and Zephyrhills excessive colleges (and this yr, Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation will probably be added to that record), to help them with furthering their respective educations.
Every year, primarily based on the sum of money the Basis is ready to increase, a gala has been held at Atonement Lutheran the place the scholarships have been awarded. The Basis has hosted occasions like a Quarter Public sale and Charity Bingo nights to assist increase further funds, however Paul says he nonetheless all the time needed to do extra.
“I’ve had so many experiences as Santa, why not write a ebook?,” he says. “I’m not likely a giant TV watcher and I wish to learn. I had learn most likely half a dozen books about being Santa and I stated to myself, ‘Why can’t I write a ebook? I’ve been doing it lengthy sufficient and I’ve obtained a narrative to inform.’ And I figured I might donate any proceeds from the ebook gross sales to the Basis.”
Paul says that it took him 4 or 5 months to put in writing the ebook. “As a result of I’m Santa all by way of November and December yearly, January and February are my ‘down’ occasions once I’m mainly a sofa potato.” He provides that he wrote all the ebook on his iPhone.
“I simply regarded again at all the photos in my telephone that individuals had despatched me and that grew to become my timeline to inform the story,” he says. “I mainly went backwards on the timeline and I wrote down what I remembered about every image.”
He then tweaked it a couple of occasions and added photos on the finish of the ebook and he was able to publish. He uploaded the pages to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform and, “It was straightforward,” he says. “You don’t even have to purchase any copies. You decide your individual gross sales value, between $10 and $200. So, we picked $19.98, as a result of that was the yr Sean was born. I ordered a couple of creator’s copies and it went dwell on Amazon on July 1 of this yr.” The ebook is on the market in each hardcover and Kindle variations and the Basis retains 60% of the proceeds after the preliminary per-book cost of $8.06.
Paul additionally says that the complete story of what occurred to Sean is without doubt one of the ebook’s chapters.
And, within the meantime, “Santa Paul” is in the midst of his busy season. After making 123 appearances as Santa final yr, he had been by way of about two dozen of his 128 scheduled appearances this yr, which incorporates the Rotary Membership of Wesley Chapel’s “Breakfast with Santa” at Bubba’s 33 on Saturday, December 14.
And sure, Paul nonetheless additionally works full-time within the gross sales division of an organization that sells pumps for vacuums utilized in manufacturing and laboratories. He additionally needed to verify I discussed how exhausting Jamie, his spouse of 36 years, has all the time labored behind the scenes for the Basis and the way a lot he appreciates all of her efforts.
Sadly, this yr’s Charity Bingo occasion for the Basis was postponed on account of Hurricane Milton. It has been rescheduled for Saturday, January 25, however and not using a location as a result of Atonement Lutheran was badly broken by the storm.
Should you or somebody you understand has a location that would host that occasion, go to SeanBartell.org. To order your copy of Santa: An Angel Dad, go to Amazon.com.
