Ray Mohler Jr., Little St. Nick an 'old soul'

Ray Mohler Jr.

Courtesy Little St. Nick Foundation

Ray Mohler Jr., right, and Rangers star Arron Asham delivered smiles and autographed pucks to young patients at Winthrop University Hospital’s Child Life Program ward in 2013.

Courtesy Little St. Nick Foundation

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Lynbrook High School junior Ray Mohler Jr. knows what it’s like to be a scared, sick child in an unfamiliar hospital bed: frightened, lonely and, in between a battery of tests and sometimes painful treatments, bored and without distractions.

When he was 4, Ray was hospitalized with a rare, degenerative hip disease. He had to wear braces on both legs for two years — but he recalls feeling blessed that he was able to go home from the hospital to recover, while many of his new friends could not.

It was then that he decided to give back to those he’d left behind by donating half of his holiday and birthday toys (his birthday is Christmas Eve) to Schneider Children’s Hospital’s pediatric ward. (The hospital was renamed the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York in 2010.)

After that, he would return — and still does — periodically with thousands of gift so that nurses could hand them out to their young patients.

“He’s an old soul,” said Ray’s mother, Dina Mohler, “and he’s proven it time and again. He’s the same way within our family. He wants to please us, to make sure everyone is happy. When he was in the hospital in those early days, he knew other children had it worse that he did, and he always kept that perspective.”

“He wanted to play sports when he was wearing those braces for two years,” said his father, Ray Mohler Sr. “He couldn’t run or jump, but we taught him to look at the bright side of things. After donating those toys, I went door to door with him, at his request, asking for money so he could get more toys for the children still in the hospital.”

Along the way, Ray, the youngest of three children, was given the nickname Little St. Nick. In 2003, the family founded the Little St. Nick Foundation.

“New York Islanders owner Charles Wang said to us, ‘Why don’t we send some players with you to the hospital?’” said Ray Sr., “and so the hockey team partnered with the foundation.” Since then, star Islanders, as well as football and basketball players and other celebrities, have accompanied Ray on his hospital visits several times a year — to the surprise and delight of the young patients.