December 29, 2023

By Melissa Verge

Canadian Baseball Network

The crowd is on their feet at the NICU in Salt Lake City, Utah, for a tiny baby clad in Blue Jays attire.

After 166 days, JR Jackson is finally coming home.

It’s a small group of fans, but they’re extremely dedicated. The nurses and doctors cheering on their recently discharged patient, young Jackson, have helped keep him alive for the past 166 days. It’s a send off like the baby’s dad, Jay Jackson, has received after a stellar performance on the mound for Toronto. But this one is not based on pitching performance - it’s for the 11.5-pound fighter who came into the world at under 25 weeks, and has battled through surgery, a stroke, and a brain bleed to be carried out of the hospital and home with his parents at last.

The hallway which has seen some of Jackson’s and his fiancee Sam Bautista’s toughest moments, is now home to one of the most beautiful ones.

Today, they won’t have to leave part of their hearts in the hospital and drive home. The whole family is going home together.

“Just knowing that we get him here and we have him here and we get to love on him every minute of everyday,” Jackson said. “We've been waiting for it for such a long time.”

JR came home on December 19th, just in time for Christmas.

Bringing him home was surreal, said Bautista, who has driven back and forth from the hospital to home for months to spend time with their son in the hospital. Before, their days largely revolved around going to visit the NICU in the evenings, but now they get to spend every moment with their son throughout the day. Their routine includes infant and developmental exercises to help with his growth, and follow up appointments with specialists in between. That on top of the work Jackson is doing to train for the upcoming season, and Bautista’s job in cyber security, and looking after their two older children. She’s also in the process of starting up an Instagram account, NICU Universe, to help provide support and resources to families who also have a child in the NICU.

It’s a lot to handle, but they work as a team - Jackson is on night shift duty, Bautista on days. During the nights, sometimes she’ll wake up and see Jackson sharing a quiet, special moment in the room with their son, she said, sitting next to the bassinet just talking to him or looking at him.

During the days, they enjoy and celebrate the small things, like the car rides they can now go on with JR, she said. Sitting in the back seat with him, she rarely takes her eyes off their son, she said.

“[He’s probably] like ‘oh my gosh, this lady keeps staring at me,’” she said.

The staring is then passed on to Jackson when he’s done his workout routine, she said.

“Jay’s been getting ready for the season and going to the gym and throwing, and he comes back and takes over staring at the baby,” she said.

Expressing gratitude for the small moments is important for the couple in a journey that has been anything but easy.

In order to take him home from the hospital earlier this month, they had to figure out a feeding plan for him, which included a Gastrostomy Tube surgery. He had to be on low enough oxygen support that it was sustainable at home. His retinopathy - which can lead to blindness, had to be regressing, and his MRI had to come back okay. Despite having a grade 4 brain bleed and a stroke in his second day of life, his MRI came back beautifully, she said, and everything lined up healthwise to be able to bring him home before Christmas. The hope is that they can remove the Gastrostomy Tube once they get him over the current eating issue so he can eat by mouth again. And soon, they’ll start occupational therapy with him to help continue to keep him on the right track.

As a couple they’ve grown closer through the 166 days, and seen just how strong the other person is, Bautista said. It’s her who’s helped him the most to get through these months, Jackson said, holding the fort down while he was splitting time between his job as a professional baseball player, and flying back to be with his family.

Jackson is currently a free agent, but he’s had an open conversation with the Blue Jays throughout the off season, he said. He ran into GM Ross Atkins at the winter meetings in Nashville, when he was meeting with the Angels and a couple of other teams. The Jays have some roster spots they’re still looking to fill, but once that happens, they said they’ll reach out, he said.

Although he’s received more than a few offers, none of them have been what he’s looking for or what he feels like his level of play deserves for the upcoming season.

“I loved it there [with the Blue Jays], hopefully something does work out and I come back,” Jackson said. “But you know, we’ve definitely been keeping in contact. And I loved every moment that I had with those guys there.”

He’s taking it day by day and so is his fiancée Bautista. They’re enjoying the small moments- like staring at their son, holding him, and just having him home at last.

“It was just like our puzzle was complete,” Bautista said. “Now I feel like over the summer we just had this one puzzle piece that we couldn't find, and when we brought him home then the puzzle piece was back.”

“Every moment I get to hold him and he just kind of melts into my arms, those are the best moments for me,” Jackson said.