It’s a Christmas gift that brings a tear to the eye.

Hundreds of carollers have turned out to grant a dying man his last wish in a small community in Canada.

Harry Towle was given very little time left - diagnosed with terminal lung caner, he was told he most likely wouldn’t see another Christmas.

The 78-year-old, a palliative patient at the Queensway nursing home in Hensall, Ontario had a last wish: to take his girlfriend out for coffee, see the Christmas lights and listen to Christmas carols.

That’s when the nursing home staff stepped in.

Margaret Sutherland from Queensway Nursing home posted on Facebook, asking the community to meet up and sing carols for him.

“Wouldn’t it be amazing to see a great group of people who care enough to make this man’s last Christmas special, isn’t that the true meaning of the season,” she wrote.

On the night, more than 300 people turned out to grant Mr Towle his last Christmas wish.

They sang Silent Night, Jingle Bells and We Wish you a Merry Christmas while he watched on from a donated limousine.

Mr Towle teared up when he saw the surprise.

“It’s absolutely fabulous, I’ve never had anything like this in my life, and I want to thank everybody for coming,” he told CTV news through tears.

By the following morning, the story of the community’s Christmas spirit went viral.

Dozens of people posted about the event.

“The real reason we showed up? Not just to grant his wish, but to fill our hearts up with the ‘reason for the season’.

“We jumped at the opportunity to embrace something so simple and so profound.

“This man demonstrated that when life on earth is nearing the end, it’s the simplest things that are cherished the most,” caroller Krista McCann said.

“It was amazing to be a part of something so special for this family,” Beverley Hardie, another caroller said.