Our Story

Mission 

The Sweet Jax Joy Foundation's mission is to spread the joy of participating in activities and to provide support to existing programs and resources in the community for differently abled children, their families, and caregivers. We will accomplish this by partnering with existing programs and services to provide scholarships opportunities and create new concepts for support and accessibility.

Jackson's Story

Our JOY, Jackson Campolmi was born on September 27, 2001. He was our first born and came into the world with sweetness and joy.  During his first year we discovered he was experiencing developmental delays and was diagnosed with a seizure disorder when he was a year old. After adjusting to our new world we vowed to give Jackson the fullest life we could provide. 

Jacksons brother, Caden, was born in 2004 and completed our family.  The boys were 3 years apart and became the best of friends. In the early years Caden did not see his brother as different and overtime once he did, it did not matter and their bond became even stronger.  We realized Jackson gave the world a unique gift and his purpose was fully recognized.  It was amazing to watch Caden's friends ask from a very early age questions like; why doesn't Jackson talk ? why does Jackson need help eating ?  At first there was a sense of curiosity and reservation.  However, within a very short time these same children saw Jackson as their friend too and included him in their playtime, activities and considered him just one of their friends too. We understood Jacksons gift was to help people accept others and celebrate that every person is unique and has value and joy to give to the world.  We saw this continue with Caden's friends during his entire life.  We saw this with our friends who always loved and accepted him.   We also saw this in the kindness of strangers who would offer to help us in so many ways while we were going about our daily lives.  

When Jackson turned 12, after many years visiting with specialists we received a diagnosis.  Jackson was diagnosed with a rare genetic syndrome, Dup15q, which is characterized by have a portion of a copy of the 15th chromosome.  The diagnosis helped to connect the dots and to better understand how to care for him through therapy, education and overall support.

While Jackson faced many challenges he was able to accomplish more than anyone thought possible, achieving his goals with great strength and bravery.  Jackson loved to be outdoors and to be active and his love of life inspired our family to explore, participate and see the JOY through his eyes and smile.  Jackson was able to attend school and summer camp, participate in recreational sports leagues and travel the world and explore.  He hiked a glacier in Iceland, explored Italy, skied, surfed, and explored the outdoors and National Parks all over the country. Every time he was able to achieve a goal we thought may not be possible he would give us a big smile and giggle. We were always amazed at how he surpassed our belief of what he could achieve. Our family motto became "Jax can do it all" And he did just that in 20 years on earth. 

Jackson passed away unexpectedly on Friday August 19th, 2021.  Our family was shattered and we were devastated.  However, we have decided the very best way to honor Jackson is to make it our mission to spread the JOY Jackson had and gave freely to others all over the world.  

Spreading JOY 

Jackson and his JOY will be spread by supporting organizations that he loved.  We want other families with differently abled children to experience the life changing JOY we did. 

We are also spreading his JOY through the "Puffer Plan".  His favorite toy, the Pufferfish, is traveling the world and is left for a someone to find in hopes it brings them JOY.  You can learn more about the "Puffer Plan" and how to get involved on the"Puffer Plan" page.  You can also read stories of great connection and inspiration on our blog.