‘Uncle’ Dirk Nowitzki has been making Christmas visits to a Dallas children’s hospital for a decade

We primarily know Dirk Nowitzki as the star of the Mavericks, someone who’s been an NBA champion and an All-Star multiple times, and someone who’s at the tail-end of his career. There’s another, sweeter, heartfelt side to Nowitzki: For the past decade of Christmases, he (as “Uncle Dirk”) has visited Children’s Medical Center of Dallas to spend time with a handful of patients, talking with them and giving them presents. It’s a side most people never knew about, because for all this time, Nowitzki never wanted to publicize it with the media.

Nowitzki allowed Dallas News’ SportsDay to tag along during this year’s visit, and their story is well worth the read. A lot of the kids Nowitzki visits are in heartbreaking situations, but Uncle Dirk’s dedication to cheering them up just by being there means so much to them and their families, such as 9-year-old Evan:

“Where’s my man Evan?” Uncle Dirk says, entering the room. Evan is sitting up in bed, waiting, wide-eyed.

Evan is given two wrapped packages. Evan soon learns that Uncle Dirk not only likes to see the gifts being unwrapped, but contents removed from boxes and tried.

Beaming Evan thanks Uncle Dirk while donning his new silver Beats headphones.

“I’ll tell you what, Dirk,” Evan’s mother says. “He hasn’t had a smile all day, so thank you for making him smile. We were a little bummed because we thought we might miss you.”

According to the hospital’s director Thresa Belcher, Nowitzki “visits 18 to 20 patients,” with some last-minute additions. Visiting that amount of patients takes a lot of time, but time is not important to Nowitzki:

“We also see that he doesn’t care how long he’s here. We all know he may be here four hours. He may be here five hours. Whatever it takes to see every kid and give them the time they deserve.”

Please read SportsDay’s story about Uncle Dirk. You might cry while reading it, but you will leave appreciative of the fact that Nowitzki’s been around to brighten the lives of children who are going through their darkest days.

(h/t Uproxx)