Terminally ill boy who wanted to sit on Santa’s lap ‘one last time’ passes away

The terminally ill two-year-old who wanted to have a visit with Santa "one last time" has tragically passed away.

Miles Angew was born with microcephaly and has spastic quad cerebral palsy, cortical vision impairment, intractable epilepsy, brain malformations and feeding intolerance. He had been in hospice care for several months, with his health slowly declining, when he took a turn for the worse. Miles' mum Michelle said that with the turn in his health, they didn't think they would be able to do a family visit with St Nick this year. She previously told ABC News:

"With the turn in Miles' health and trying to make more memories as quickly as we can we didn’t think we would be able to do our Santa visit."

On December 5, Miles and his siblings had a special visit from Santa, who rushed to the hospice so the toddler could sit on his lap "one last time". The image of Miles sitting on Santa's lap captured hearts across the globe, with many people sending well-wishes to his family in the United States. But, tragically, she confirmed last night that Miles has since passed away. According to the Daily Mail, she said on Facebook:

"It is with a very heavy heart that I'm announcing the passing of Miles Agnew. Last night he quietly passed away in the arms of his parents and surrounded by loving family. "Many thanks to those that have already expressed their condolences, the Agnews are very grateful for the outpouring of love and support."

The family had adopted little Miles when he was just three months old. They have two other children, Hailey, 13, and Taveon, 11.