Tyler Jackson was not your typical classroom teacher. In fact he didn’t have a classroom at all, but he taught unforgettable lessons for 13 years, friends and family said.
“He taught me about unselfish love,” said his mother Emogene "Emma" Jackson of Tucker. “He taught me a love that is more concerned with how you are feeling than how I am feeling, and I will never forget that.”
Mrs. Jackson said her son’s lessons on strength were just as memorable.
“Strength is about seeing something through,” she said. “He was so sick, and I’d be afraid a lot, but I learned from Tyler that the strength was in moving forward despite that fear. He taught all of us that.”
Tyler’s life was filled with obstacles from birth, his mother said. His brain was deprived of oxygen for nearly 15 minutes when he was born, and doctors told Mrs. Jackson her son would likely die that day. But he held on from one day to the next, getting stronger, she said. Tyler was eventually diagnosed with cerebral palsy, but became strong enough to go home. From then on, life did not get any easier for Tyler, or his family, but they embraced the little boy and created safe spaces for him.
Mrs. Jackson described her son as “medically fragile” and very susceptible to germs, so the family was always careful about where they went.
“We took Tyler everywhere we went,” she said. “That sometimes meant there were places we wouldn’t go, because he couldn’t go, but that was OK.”
A close friend of the Jacksons said she was always moved by the interactions between Tyler and his family.
“The surrounded him with love, and he gave them love,” said Adrian Bruce. “He showed them how to love, beyond what they thought they could.”
Tyler K. Jackson, of Tucker, died Monday at home in his sleep from complications associated with cerebral palsy. He was 13. A memorial service will be held at noon Friday at Tom M. Wages’ Snellville Chapel. Tom M. Wages Funeral Service is in charge of arrangements.
Though he could not speak or walk, Tyler could communicate with his eyes and expressions, his mother said. And when it seemed many of his senses betrayed him, Tyler’s hearing was always keen, she said.
“He loved music,” Mrs. Jackson said. “We found this out when he was a baby and I’d done research that said classical music can stimulate a baby’s mind, so I played it for him. He opened his eyes wider, he made more sounds and he seemed to really respond to it and it kept him calm.”
Tyler also learned how to show is happiness, and his mother and sisters often did things just to hear him laugh.
“For some reason he liked to hear pages turning,” Mrs. Jackson said. “So we read to him a lot. And sometimes we’d just open a book and turn pages, and he’d just laugh. And when he was happy, we were happy.”
Tyler is also survived by his father, Gregory A. Jackson of Conyers; sisters, Antia and MeKenzie Jackson both of Tucker and Renair Jackson of Atlanta; maternal grandmother, Irene London of Atlanta and paternal grandparents, George and Mary Jackson, Sr. of Savannah.
About the Author
