LOUISA — Mark Jackson saw a need for a better way to do things each time he watched his wife struggle to get a meal, then invented a solution to the problem.

The couple now have a patent for the Jackson Peg Tube Stand, and hold highest hope to help “get it into the hands of the people that can use it,” he said.

“I just hope it can do for others what it did for me,” his wife, Tina, types quickly into a portable device that provides an almost-instant voice for thoughts. She smiles and types, “It gave me freedom.”

Tina was born with Cerebral Palsy and paralysis on the left side of her body. She sustained a stroke during her 20s which resulted in swallowing difficulties and an inability to speak. All of her meals are liquid now, ingested through a tube that feeds directly into her stomach. The process was difficult, she explained, and could require up to two hours for a single meal — an experience that also made it difficult for her to breathe.

Mr. Jackson recognized that gravity was one of the toughest challenges in the process, noting a long loop in the feeding tube caused the liquid nutrition to get slowed down as it came back up and into his wife's body. They employed a frame-style chair stand to help the process, but it wasn't portable and didn't meet the needs of a person with use of a single hand only.

“No way to independently manage my meals,” she typed, later choosing the words “frustrated” and “isolated” to describe her feelings about the situation.

Jackson said he understood the problem and started thinking about ways to deal with it. He came up with a design, and built it of wood. The wooden device was then shown to an instructor at the Big Sandy Community & Technical College-Hager Hill Campus who used Jackson's design to build a similar unit from plexiglass, along with a few suggestions for improving the device. Right off the bench, Jackson said he realized they needed to make a way to allow the entire thing to pivot “so it didn't hit her in the face!”

An instructor at a local technical school saw Jackson's device and suggested he seek a patent. “I thought he was half joking ... and then my dad said the very same thing.” Typing at full-tilt speed, Mrs. Jackson added, “Also, home health nurses.” Before long, they teamed up with Kim Jenkins at Morehead State University's Ashland Small Business Development Center and patent attorney Robert Waters.

Jackson said they determined the original plan, which called for injection molding to make the parts of his invention, also made the device far too expensive and would have required considerable investment. His wife's cousin, Andrew Blevins, owns a machine shop in Batavia, Ohio, and solved the issue with a sturdy, collapsable, lightweight and portable model that seems perfect for the job at hand.

From start to finish, Jackson said the patent process began in 2003 and was finalized in 2010, adding “with a lot of sweat.”

The Jacksons, who enjoy traveling and being active, have thoroughly field tested their invention.

Instead of requiring two hours of difficulty to get her meal completed, Jackson said his wife “can eat and be done by the time I think of what I want to eat. Fifteen minutes and she's done.”

“I have put on 20 pounds,” she says with the help of her translator and smiling.

Mrs. Jackson said it was difficult giving up “real” food, and suspects her last meal of that type was soft eggs and gravy. Smiling as she types, she says she regrets she will never taste lobster, pausing before adding “or sushi,” causing her husband a genuine chuckle.

“I never even ate sushi. I don't know if I'd like that or not,” he said with a hearty laugh.

Proving she is a true Louisa woman, Jackson said if she could enjoy any single meal in the world, she would select “Probably two foot-long hot dogs from Dee's.”

For more information about the Jackson Peg Tube Stand visit the jacksonpegtubestands.com website, e-mail markj@setel.com or call (606) 638-3234.