Amazing Mom 2026: Madelyn McIntyre

Parts of Madelyn McIntyre’s days look like those of many other moms. She wakes up early to care for her 1.5-year-old son, Fox. They play, watch Sesame Street and read books. After dinner, she puts on her pajamas and crawls into bed.

But for the past 82 days, Madelyn has been doing it all from the hospital.

It’s a hospital crib she tucks Fox into—and a pullout couch where she sleeps beside him.

Madelyn is this year’s TulsaKids Amazing Mom winner, selected from nearly 100 nominees. Her friend’s nomination read, in part: “Madelyn is one of the strongest people I know. She inspires me and makes me want to be a better mom myself.”

The story behind that nomination begins with Fox—and with a season of motherhood Madelyn never imagined she would live.

_________________

Madelyn and her husband, Graham, are raising three young boys—River, 4, Van, nearly 3, and Fox, 1—and for much of the past year and a half, their lives have revolved around appointments, specialists and learning a new language of diagnoses and care. That journey began during Madelyn’s pregnancy, when doctors first noticed something unusual during a routine ultrasound at 28 weeks.

At first, it was one concern—then another: enlarged ventricles in Fox’s brain, followed by signs of a heart defect. The appointments became more frequent and the information more complex. And yet, through it all, Madelyn felt an unexpected calm.

“I’m normally a very anxious person,” she says. “But during that time, I just felt like it was going to be OK.”

When Fox was born, doctors prepared her for the possibility of immediate interventions. He cried right away and breathed on his own—for a moment, everything felt steady. But an MRI would reveal serious issues—Fox was missing his corpus callosum, the structure that connects the two sides of the brain. In the months that followed, Madelyn found herself navigating a new world of specialists and waiting lists, trying to understand what it meant for her son’s future.

At 5½ months old, Fox received a diagnosis: Mowat-Wilson syndrome, a rare genetic condition affecting only a few hundred people worldwide. Children with Mowat-Wilson syndrome often experience significant developmental delays requiring lifelong support. By then, Madelyn had already begun to suspect it.

“I had come across it one night while researching,” she says. “When the geneticist told us, I said, ‘That’s what I thought he had.’”

The doctor’s response stayed with her: Moms always know.

______________

Photo by Valerie Wei-Haas

In the months since, Madelyn has learned to read her child in ways only a parent can. She keeps track of appointments, understands complex medical terminology and knows when to push for answers.

“I’ve learned it’s OK to question doctors,” she says. “You should trust them—but you also know your child best.”

She’s also learned how much families are expected to figure out on their own. Programs like SoonerStart, TEFRA and specialized therapies were not handed to her in a neat plan. They were discovered piece by piece, often through other parents.

“No one tells you everything,” she says. “You learn because you have to.”

Now, she finds herself wanting to be that resource for others—the mom who can say, “Here’s what helps,” to someone just beginning the same journey.

____________

Fox’s current hospital stay began after what seemed like a routine illness. After testing positive for COVID, he slowly stopped eating. Then came vomiting. Then dehydration. What started as a visit for fluids turned into an admission—and a plan for a feeding tube.

Further testing revealed intestinal malrotation, a condition where the intestines are not positioned correctly. Surgery followed, and then complications and more procedures.

At the time of the interview, Fox had undergone 10 surgeries and had been in the hospital for more than nine weeks.

“It’s been a lot,” Madelyn says.

Recovery has required patience—something she and his care team have learned together. Progress can’t be rushed.

“With Fox, we can’t go fast,” she says. “It has to be slow.”

________________

Photo by Valerie Wei-Haas

Life inside the hospital has settled into a rhythm, though it’s one Madelyn never expected to know so well. She and her husband, Graham, take turns—one staying with Fox while the other goes home to be with River and Van. Grandparents step in daily, helping with school, meals and the routines of childhood.

“We’re just so blessed. I don’t know what we would do without them,” she says.

Still, hospital life can be exhausting in ways that are hard to explain. The days blur together, sleep comes in short stretches and there’s always a wait or the unknown.

Early on, Madelyn realized she had to be intentional about taking care of herself, too.

Each morning, she gets dressed. She brushes her hair. She puts on a little makeup—just enough to feel like herself. And every day, she walks down to the hospital Starbucks and orders a coffee.

“It gives me something to look forward to,” she says. “It helps me start the day in a better place.”

Some days, that small routine makes all the difference.

It’s also a balancing act—being present in a hospital room while continuing to mother two young boys at home. River, her oldest, has responded with remarkable empathy. He explains to others that Fox is “extra special,” and seems to instinctively understand that his brother’s needs are different.

Van, still a toddler himself, is navigating it in his own way.

“They’re doing really well overall,” Madelyn says. “Better than I expected.”

She thinks often about their future—about making sure they understand why Fox needs more care, and that it never means they are loved any less.

Photo by Valerie Wei-Haas

____________________

Before becoming a mom, Madelyn says one of her biggest fears was having a child with special needs.

“I wasn’t around it growing up,” she says. “It scared me.”

Now, she sees that fear differently.

“I didn’t realize how much joy there is,” she says. “Fox is so happy. He’s been through so much, and he’s still just joyful.”

That shift—between what she once feared and what she now knows—has changed her in ways she didn’t expect.

“It’s made me, my husband, and our kids better people,” she says. “Just knowing him.”

Madelyn doesn’t pretend this life is easy.

But she has learned to look for something else in the middle of it.

“If he’s going to be a toddler his whole life,” she says, “Christmas is going to be magical every single year.”

Photo courtesy Madelyn McIntyre

_________

Madelyn never imagined this version of motherhood.

These days, it looks like long stretches in a hospital room and interrupted sleep. It looks like balancing life between two places—one where her youngest son is healing, and one where her other boys are growing up.

It’s not the life she once pictured.

But somewhere between the hard days and the ordinary ones, she’s found something she didn’t expect: a kind of joy that doesn’t disappear, even here in this hospital room.