In a Loxley living room, Jennifer McIntosh keeps a memory blanket stitched with photos of her son Jack Stone. One picture stops her every time: a hospital room, tubes and monitors everywhere, and Jack smiling anyway. “This is probably one of my favorite pictures — we are in the hospital, but he’s smiling,” she said.
Jack Stone McIntosh was six years old when he died from a rare form of epilepsy called malignant migrating partial seizures of infancy, a genetic condition that slowly took his speech and his movement but never, his parents say, his will to survive. “He brought light into a dark moment,” his father, Preston, said.
By the time Jack was two, the family was living most of their life inside hospitals and clinics. One of Jack’s doctors eventually reached out to Make-A-Wish Alabama on the family’s behalf, and in 2021 that wish was granted — not a trip to a theme park, but a camper outfitted like a rolling intensive care unit, built so a family who couldn’t otherwise travel with a child who had critical medical needs could finally see the world together.
“We learned early on you can’t travel with a kid that has critical medical needs, because you come with all the equipment,” Jennifer said. The camper changed that math entirely. “Make-A-Wish gave us an opportunity to give our child, who wasn’t able to see the world, a chance to see the world,” Preston said.
Jack has since died, but his parents have turned their remaining energy toward keeping his name attached to helping other families going through the same thing, a mission they describe simply as staying “Jack Stone Strong.” Jennifer now volunteers to help grant other children’s wishes. “You will see the magic that changes lives,” she said. “When you help grant wishes, you become a part of that child’s family.”
Preston’s advice to other parents facing a child’s serious illness is blunt and specific: don’t look away from disability. “If you see a child in a wheelchair, give them the same courtesy you would a child who’s not in a wheelchair,” he said. Jennifer’s message is aimed more at parents in the thick of it. “You are stronger than you can ever imagine,” she said. “Every doubt that you’ve ever had, erase it. Children are a blessing, and stay strong.”
The McIntosh family’s story is part of WKRG’s ongoing “Wishes Can’t Wait” series spotlighting Make-A-Wish Alabama families across the region — a reminder, coming out of Baldwin County, of how much a single camper trip can mean when a family has spent years measuring life in hospital stays.