Make-A-Wish turns boy’s backyard into farm, petting zoo

Updated: Sep 22, 2020 / 05:10 AM CDT

FRANKLINVILLE, N.Y. (NewsNation Now) — In western New York, Make-A-Wish helped a boy with a rare genetic disease combine his love of animals and dinosaurs.

Dubbed “Dustin’s Jurassic Farm,” the charity helped turn Dustin Keech’s backyard into a petting zoo, complete with a barn, fence and five goats.

Dustin has Dravet syndrome, which is a rare genetic disease that causes epilepsy. He also can’t do a lot of physical activity, but his mother said it helped him gain an interest in animals.

“He’s an animal kid. With his Dravet Syndrome, he can’t do a lot of physical activity, so he got into animals at a young age,” Jennifer Kellogg told NewsNation affiliate WIVB-TV.

She said her son would have an entire zoo in his yard if he could.

Make-A-Wish has fulfilled the wishes of more than 315,000 children in the United States.