Choo-choo cheer: Operation North Pole train ride, party brightens holiday for families of children battling illness

There was a snowball fight on a Metra train Saturday. But not only was it OK, it was encouraged, because the train was full of children, firefighters, police and others en route to see Santa Claus.

In other cars of the specially decorated train, youngsters sang Christmas karaoke, battled their siblings with glowing wands, and were showered with snacks, stickers, tattoos and toys.

Operation North Pole returned, after a six-year absence, to the Union Pacific Northwest line.

Sixty-seven families who have a child with a serious or life-threatening medical conditions enjoyed the train ride, and more. A lot more.

Some were put up overnight at a hotel near the Donald Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, where the festivities started early Saturday morning with children clambering on fire trucks and engines. There was a lights-and-sirens procession to the Metra station in downtown Des Plaines, then the ride to and from Crystal Lake. The outside of the train was a “The Nutcracker” theme. Inside, the cars had themes, such as “The Grinch,” “Candyland” and a Disney car.

The conductor punched messages into fancy tickets, such as “jolly” and “hope.”

J.C. Uriostegui, 4, of Beach Park, and his brother, 2-year-old Leo, were enthralled. J.C. especially got a kick out of the slap bracelets that were handed out, slapping it again and again and again on the arm of a firefighter.

J.C. was treated for leukemia this year, and is undergoing maintenance chemotherapy. Nurses at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital told his mother, Myra, about Operation North Pole.

“It’s exciting. It’s really nice,” Uriostegui said. “Despite his diagnosis, there is a lot of sweet things to it, people doing nice things.”

When the crowd returned to the convention center, they were greeted by a gantlet of about 200 firefighters, paramedics and police officers, who knelt in tribute and cheered the children as heroes. (“Your want to see a bunch of police and firemen crying? Go watch the gantlet,” one volunteer was overheard saying.)

There was a party in a ballroom filled with dozens of Christmas trees, visits with Santa Claus, a model train layout, lunch, crafts and dancing.

And each child under 12, including siblings, was surprised with about $300 worth of gifts as they left.

Operation North Pole began in 2009. Its mission is to provide a day of relief from the emotional and financial stress of families’ battles to save a child’s life.