A sick boy has written a heartbreaking letter to Santa asking for medicine and inhalers for Christmas.
Kline McCormac, 10, from Truckee, California, sealed his request and sneaked it into his family's mailbox before his mum Loren could read it.
Worried about why her son, who has anaphylactic food allergies, asthma and red skin syndrome, was being so secretive, Loren, 44, tasked her husband Dennis, 47, with retrieving the letter.
The doting mum then read what her son had asked Father Christmas for as his present after years of watching his parents struggling to afford the $1,852 monthly bill for medical care.
The facilities technician then shared Kline's request online to show the brutal reality of privatised healthcare in the US.
"I knew my son had written something he didn't want me to see because he was covering the letter up and sealed it before I could look," she said.
"Curious, I had my husband get it out of the mailbox when Kline went to sleep so that I could read it and it was very upsetting on a lot of levels.
"The fact he asked and knew it would help us out financially upset us, but also the fact we are not the only family in the US affected by our terrible health care system.
"Also I feel terrible that he has obviously seen how stressed we are because of his medical expenses, but I guess we aren't great at sugar coating it."
The cost of Kline's medical bills quickly climbed after his diagnosis.
Loren said: "Because of his different health conditions, Kline needs a lot of different medicines to keep himself well.
"He uses cromolyn sodium which costs up to $900 through insurance, asthma inhalers which are up to $70 each and a $200 epi-pen.
"Alongside that, we also pay a monthly insurance bill of $692.
"With the cost of the insurance, alongside the cost of his medication, I am very easily spending a whole pay check per month on his medical needs - if not more.
"When Kline meets his deductible of $2700, his costs will start to go down, but I'm not sure how long that will take.
"Financially this is a massive stress on us, and something that Kline has witnessed - he has even seen me break down into tears in the pharmacy.
"Kline once said to me that we would actually have a 'good amount of money' if it wasn't for his medication, and that broke my heart - but to see these necessities on his letter to Santa just killed me.
"I hope that by sharing Kline's story people will start to realise just how expensive the American healthcare system is - because no little boy should have to be receiving medicine as a Christmas present."
