“Within two weeks, he was in surgery and having brain surgery,” Amy told the Daily Nonpareil said last week.

That operation — the first of many — was performed on Super Bowl Sunday in 2016, she said. The staff at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha decorated Jackson’s room with Denver Broncos memorabilia. Jackson’s favorite NFL team was the eventual victor over the Carolina Panthers in that game.

The Tijerina family has a special bucket list of things Jackson would like to do to ensure that he has experiences along the way that he can treasure, Amy said. He got to see the Broncos play, a family friend got him a football signed by Peyton Manning, he got to see tigers and mermaids at an indoor zoo in Denver and he got to tour Kinnick Stadium — although he has yet to see the Hawkeyes play.

Meeting “the real Iron Man — Tony Stark” was the last item on the list, Amy said. She put the special request out on Facebook in hopes that someone could help them out.

“Someone” turned out to be Council Bluffs resident Sue Wheeler, who has a friend in the movie industry. Wheeler said she had gone to school with Jackson’s father, James, and had Jackson’s sister Jade in a gymnastics class. She said she had been “keeping tabs” on Jackson’s story.