Meet the 6-year-old from Candlelighters picked to light up the Downtown Christmas tree
Saturday, Dec. 6 marked the 79th annual evolve Federal Credit Union Celebration of Lights.
Each year — the organization Candlelighters of El Paso selects a child battling cancer to flip the switch, lighting the city’s Christmas tree and the downtown decorations.
The special child this year is Hugo Barraza, 5.
ABC-7 caught up with Barraza as he hugged Santa Claus and posed for pictures in City Council chambers at City Hall Tuesday. Rubbing elbows with Santa, the mayor and city representatives is just one perk Barraza has experienced over the past year. He was crowned as the Candlelighters King of 2014. The title comes with the responsibility of lighting up Cleveland Square on Saturday.
“Oh, he’s excited,” said his mother, Elvira Barraza.
Handling his royal duties for the whole year has been a welcome distraction from the everyday life of this kindergartener, who lost his right eye to cancer.
“It’s unexplainable,” said Elvira, when asked what life has been like for her and her son since his diagnosis.
“It breaks my heart. Even when (the doctor) tell(s) you they have a cold — imagine when they tell you they have cancer. It’s very harsh.”
Hugo now has a prosthetic eye — what he calls his “Hulk” eye.
Candlelighters has been assisting Hugo and Elvira with money, counseling and anything else the family needs.
“We try to make life a little bit better for them while they go through 2-3 years of treatment,” CEO Scott Lynch told ABC-7.
The Celebration of Lights starts at 4:30 P.M. The Christmas tree lighting is at 5:55 P.M., and will be followed by the parade. The fireworks are at 7 P.M.
ABC-7 will be airing the program on the El Paso Las Cruces CW and streaming live at kvia.com.
The CW is on cable channel 13 or 1212; Dish Network channel 17; DirecTV channel 8 and over the air on channel 7.2.
