The Wish

[my miss storm cat]

http://www.kentucky.com/303/story/386393.html


Blind, hearing-impaired boy takes in the track

Jenn Ackerman | Staff
Patrick cheered at Keeneland last week after asking, "Are they racing?"

Patrick Munro, 9, from Long Island, N.Y., is blind and hearing-impaired, and he loves horses. Last week, The Make-A-Wish Foundation granted Patrick's wish to come to Kentucky and experience horses on a grand scale.

Last week, Patrick spent time at Keeneland and Churchill Downs, met 2004 Derby winner Smarty Jones, and rode horses with Kentucky Riding for Hope. Susan Munro, Patrick's mother, explains the sounds Patrick hears "so he can get a better understanding of what is his world, because he can't see it. It has been amazing to explain everything we have experienced this week."

"Are they racing?" Patrick asked John Greely, his volunteer Make-A-Wish host, before he started cheering at the top of his lungs at Keeneland.

The Make-A-Wish foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses.

After the third race, jockey Garrett Gomez met with Greely and Patrick in the jockeys' room, where he gave Patrick his hat and whip. Patrick said Gomez was his hero and decided to bet on the horse Gomez was riding in each race.

"This is the best thing I could hope for him," said Susan Munro. "This will be something he will remember for a lifetime."

— Jenn Ackerman, Staff