Christmas Cheer

Tom Cruise--Heartthrob: Ten-year-old Brandi Mason, waiting for a heart transplant in Ft. Mill, S.C., was given permission to go home for Christmas, but not before she got a stellar send off from actor Tom Cruise. “When he came in the room, her heart monitor showed her heart rate went up to 170 beats a minute,” her mother, Ginger, said. “She was absolutely so excited she couldn’t stand it.” Cruise, who was filming Paramount Pictures’ “Days of Thunder” at Charlotte Motor Speedway, brought Mason a hat and shirt, autographed her pillowcase and then visited some of the other children at Charlotte Memorial Hospital. Doctors say they don’t know when a heart will be available for Mason, who has myocarditis, a rare viral infection of the heart.