10-Year-Old Red Sox Fan Battling Fatal Illness Has His Ultimate Wish Come True

Thomas Hastings is only 10-years-old, but he may just be the biggest Red Sox fan of all time.The [...]

By Brent McCluskey

Thomas Hastings is only 10-years-old, but he may just be the biggest Red Sox fan of all time.

The young boy loves baseball and all things Red Sox, but his Duchenne muscular dystrophy and chronic scoliosis means he's confined to a wheelchair, making it difficult for him to get out to Fenway Park and watch the game. But the Make-A-Wish foundation had the perfect solution: Build him a to-scale Fenway Park right in his family's back yard.

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(Photo: USA Today HSS)

"Thomas loves the Red Sox and baseball in a way we all wish we could. He enjoys the game on a pure level," his father, Brad Hastings, said.

Thomas' condition is 100 percent fatal, according to the CDC, and the little boy's ailments have taken its toll on him and his family.

"It totally rearranges the way you think about things. We stopped thinking about where we're going to be tomorrow, next week, in two years, or in five years. When he was first diagnosed, we'd get bogged down about how we'd get over this. We don't think about anything beyond today anymore," said Hastings, a real estate agent and a retired Marine Corps reservist.

For many baseball fans, the game is a way to relax and unwind, but for Thomas it represent something much bigger.

"Baseball takes his mind off things," Brad Hastings said. "We'll schedule his (back) surgeries during October so he'll have a built-in distraction and be able to watch the playoffs during his recovery."

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(Photo: USA Today HSS)

Thomas' Fantasy Fenway will also help him take his mind off things. The to-scale park will be a near-exact replica of the original, complete with the same outfield sod, an infield with synthetic turf and expandable baselines and more.

The Make-A-Wish foundation's efforts have already been noticed by the community and serves as a reminder that good people still exist in the world.

"We had a woman who stopped by during construction and said, 'This completely restores my faith in humanity right here,' " Brad Hastings said. "There were six different contractors there working for free. 'This is such a good thing,' she said."

Swing for the fences, Thomas!

[ H/T USA Today HSS ]

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