A Musical Toy Story 3: Local boy's Christmas wish comes true

Dec. 25—The sweet sounds of a most prized possession came to one local young man this holiday season, just in time for Christmas.

Two years after the initial search for a special and much desired musical toy, a replacement toy for Cory Jones was needed and the search continued.

The Jones family, of Marlow, love and care for their 24-year-old son with special needs.

Recently, Wayne Jones, fixer of the musical toy, passed away and the family set out to search for a replacement as soon as possible.

Deborah Jones said even though the old toy doesn't work anymore, Cory still carries it around everywhere he goes.

"It's very comforting to him because it's something he's always had," she said. "Dad was always able to fix them and these last months he wasn't able to."

After the call was sent, surrounding communities responded once again, bringing the toy to Southwest Oklahoma. In December 2022, The Banner Staff received a package containing the cherished toy from The Shaw Family in Columbus, Indiana.

Upon delivery, the family was humbled to receive the kind donation from the family.

Deborah Jones said receiving this toy means everything to her son, Cory.

"It means the whole world to him," she said. "He's been carrying around his broken one. He (is) very excited."

Deborah Jones said there is only a certain amount of things he likes and this musical toy is one of the three things that he likes.

"Definitely his favorite," she said.

The initial search began in August 2020 when Deborah and the late Wayne Jones began a search for one specific toy for son, Cory — one that he absolutely loves. Then, The Banner Staff became aware of the need for this musical toy and put out a story to help.

After receiving numerous calls about the toy, one call came through from Funrise Toys, during which a copy of this musical toy was located and The Banner Staff was able to deliver the brand new toy in September 2020.

Cory was born with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), a congenital heart defect. This rare disease doesn't typically give a long-life span.

That was fixed at six months, according to the family, when Cory had open heart surgery. A month later, he had another open heart surgery.

Deborah said Cory was in the ICU for six months and Cory's two heart surgeries came lots of complications.

She described some of the more difficult moments, saying Cory "coded a couple of times — that's when we had to CPR.

"The lack of oxygen to his brain during all of that — that's why he's special needs," she said. "They wanted us to put him in a children's home. We said 'no, we're taking him home.'"

That's when Cory came home on a vent.

Now, Cory is 24 with limited ways to communicate, although he can hear, be expressive and understand a little bit of sign language.

According to Deborah Jones, their son was around three the first time he received this special toy. With this in mind, The Jones family has gone through multiples of this musical toy, as Cory has played with the particular toy every day.

The Duncan Banner staff delivered the toy two days before Christmas to Cory, one in 2020 and one again Dec. 23, 2022. Each staff member agreed it made the entire day brighter.