Potter Park Zoo welcomes Charlie

Alongside about 30 other families who have been helped by the Michigan chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, 3-year-old Charlie Waller ran through Potter Park Zoo Sunday and played with his 7-year-old sister, Esther.

Charlie Waller, the son of MSU employees Abigail and John Waller, was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer on April 1.

Earlier this month, the Michigan Make-A-Wish Foundation sponsored a trip for the Waller family to visit Sea World and the San Diego Zoo.

Charlie’s room is filled with crates of dinosaurs and toy animals. He spent his third birthday feeding penguins and petting snakes at the zoo.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan organized another event Sunday at Potter Park Zoo, 1301 S. Pennsylvania Ave., to maintain a relationship with the children they’ve worked with, said Barb Emmons, a volunteer with the foundation who organized the event Sunday.

About 150 people were given free access to the zoo, snacks and a chance to pet exotic animals.

“It’s a wish enhancement for all the families — a special event we do to bring all the families together,” Emmons said.

For the Wallers, the trip to the zoo was a time to be together and spend quality time with Charlie, said John Waller, a Lyman Briggs associate professor.

“It’s hard to describe,” he said. “He’s just a normal, rambunctious 3-year-old now.”