“What’s your favorite subject?”
“Social studies.”
“What’s your favorite animal?”
“Dog.”
“How’s the 5th grade?”
“It’s okay.”
Like many other boys his age, 10-year-old Grayson Piatt is pretty shy at first, answering with the minimum amount of words necessary to get his point across. That is until he starts to talk about his trip to Disney.
Grayson said the best part of his trip was getting to ride Slinky Dog Dash, only stopping when poor weather forced him to. That along with unlimited access to ice cream “for dinner and breakfast” and daily gifts for him and his sister made for the trip of a lifetime and a dream come true. Literally.
Grayson got his dream trip to Disney thanks to the Dream Factory, an organization that grants dreams to critically and chronically ill children.
He was only three and a half when his parents first noticed he was falling a concerning amount, said Hallie Piatt, Grayson’s mom.
“He kept falling and so we got him into a neurologist in Cincinnati and realized he was having seizures and he was diagnosed with epilepsy,” Piatt said.
After hearing about Grayson’s diagnosis, Jennifer Hurst, president of the Lexington Dream Factory chapter, reached out to Piatt and explained what the Dream Factory does.
Founded in Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1980, the Dream Factory has grown into a nationwide organization that has 30 chapters across the country, with Lexington being one of the biggest chapters.
“Every single one of our chapters, none of us are paid. All of us are completely volunteer,” Hurst said. “At nationals, there are only four paid people so that’s a huge difference between us and most other nonprofits.”
Because they are completely volunteer-based, 96.7% of the money raised by the Dream Factory goes directly to the children and helping make their dreams come true, Hurst said. The Dream Factory’s biggest fundraiser every year is their annual gala.
The Annual Dream Factory Gala usually takes place in April and has raised $1 million over the last three years. From dancing and live music to auctions and raffles, attendees are able to make a difference with their donations and see how their donations impact those who receive dreams.
“We always have some of our dream kids there,” Hurst said. “(Last year) we had two of our older kids who could really articulate what it meant to go through what they went through and what it meant to have their families go through it with them and what hope it brought to know that they had something to look forward to in the dream.”
Feeling “terrified” after getting Grayson’s diagnosis, getting a dream from the Dream Factory felt like a “fantastic gift,” Piatt said.
“I mean nothing is affordable in health care a lot of times, the stays and the medication, we were just trying to do all the things, and so vacation wasn't really a part of what we were planning for that year,” Piatt said. “So to be able to do that and not worry about anything else and just be there and be together and have fun, it was just incredible.”
The main focus of the Dream Factory is to help as many kids as possible, Hurst said, even if their dreams look different from most.
Hurst shared the story of a child who came to the United States from Rwanda to receive treatment for his illness. After going into remission, he decided to stay and start attending school here.
Once he got older, his illness came back, this time more aggressively with no treatment options available. In 2020, his dream was to go back home and pass away with his family.
“You think, ‘How awful,’ … but if that’s his dream, how can you not try and make that come true,” Hurst said.
Hurst said the board sat down and had to discuss the logistics of the dream, including things like equipment and personnel needed for traveling, dream budget and liability. Ultimately, the board decided to grant the child his dream.
“We just felt it was so important for him to go, and so we signed off on it and he made it and he was able to be with his family for about two weeks and then passed then. But to us that was successful because that was his dream and … that’s what's most important to us,” Hurst said.
While the Dream Factory works to turn the dreams of children into reality, sometimes they have to hand off dreams and hope another organization can help fulfill them. Other hard moments include hearing about the passing of one of their dream children, Hurst said.
The relationships built are treasured not only by the Dream Factory staff but also by the dream families.
“I don't even know how to put it into words. My husband kind of teases me because I think I cried every time I talked about it for the first year because it was just so incredible,” Piatt said. “Jennifer was amazing ‘cause I really was a mess all the time. I just cried any time we talked about it because I was like ‘(A dream) could really change his life.’”
Grayson is now 10 years old and has been seizure-free for four years. Although his trip to Disney was three years ago, Grayson still has his pictures, Slinky Dog souvenir and memories of endless ice cream.
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