ELKHART, Iowa — After years of participating in the Scouts, Jack Selby completed his Eagle Scout service project: constructing a back plate and planting a garden near the Virgin Mary statue at an Elkhart church.
Jack, his parents and grandparents have spent the past couple weeks completing the garden, which now blossoms with flowers. He had to finish the project by his 18th birthday, which was Thursday, May 2, and he considers this "like an opportunity to volunteer" at a place he calls his second home.
"We saw that the Mary garden near this church was all like dirty, and like, there was some overgrown things in it," Jack said.
Completing this vigorous Eagle Scout project is an activity doctors believed he wouldn't likely be able to do when he was born.
That's because Jack was born at 25 weeks, weighing just 1 pound and 7 ounces., smaller than the size of his favorite stuffed animal duck "Splash".
Once Jack turned 18 months old, doctors told his parents Susan and Bob their son would spend his life in a wheel chair.
Unwilling to accept this as their son's fate, Susan and Bob began searching for a physical therapist to help Jack learn how to walk properly. Upon finding someone who "believed in him," Susan Selby said Jack began walking four months later.
"Ever since that point on, [Jack's] been on the go." she added. "And he's met every challenge head-on."
And while the church feels like a second home for the family as a whole, Jack said Scouts has served as his second family.