Logan's Story
/Images Captured by Samantha Jiwa Photography
This Tiny Light has tremendous toughness underneath his cute exterior. By the time Logan was three and a half months old, he had already been through more health challenges than some people face in a lifetime.
The ordeal began just two months after his birth, when Logan spiked a fever. His mother Katelyn took him to the local emergency department and as the hours went by, little Logan developed a rash and grew very pale. He was diagnosed with meningitis and transferred to the nearest children’s hospital. After an MRI was performed, a team of neurosurgeons went to meet with the family.
The MRI had revealed that a dimple at the base of Logan’s lower back actually had a little hole in it leading directly to his spinal cord. E. coli bacteria from his feces had been getting into the hole, causing the meningitis. Surgery was the answer to the problem, but Logan’s unusual story wasn’t over yet. As the surgeons followed the hole through to Logan’s spinal cord, they discovered and removed a tumour, and an abscess which had been draining into his spinal fluid. Also, there were other abnormalities which made the operation especially challenging.
Logan spent a total of five weeks in the hospital, but as Katelyn says, “The most amazing thing was watching him go through such a hard thing and be so cooperative with the staff with blood work and bandage changes and anything else they needed to do.” Months later, this Tiny Light is doing well with no apparent regrowth of the tumour. He is being monitored for any long-term effects from the meningitis and the spinal cord abnormalities.
Written by Jayne Akizuki
