DALLAS — For the past five months, Kelli Swank has tried to pick up the pieces.
“It was such a shock that I think the first month I was just like a zombie walking around,” Swank said. “I ask all the time, ‘Why does something like this have to happen, especially to someone as amazing as Jack?’”
In April, Swank’s only son, Jack Swank, died unexpectedly when he was just 24.
Swank says for a while, she was lost until one day she found a way to move forward.
“I made a decision that I don’t want to be a person who lets this consume my life and destroy it,” Swank said.
Her hope was built with Legos. The boyhood bricks were Jack’s obsession. He spent much of his free time piecing them together.
With that in mind, Swank engineered an idea: a Lego drive called Jack’s Lego-cy.
Her goal is to collect as many sets of Legos as possible. Then, on October 15, Jack’s birthday, she’ll deliver them all to the Children’s Medical Center in Dallas.
She says being so selfless is what Jack was all about.
“I feel like it does keep a part of him here with us,” Swank said.
For every kid who receives one, she hopes it brings joy but for Swank, knowing Jack lives on like this has already brought closure.
“I don’t sit around thinking, ‘what am I supposed to do now,’” she said. “I have a purpose. I feel like I’m building this purpose.”
And finally putting the pieces back together. To donate to Swank's project, go here.