Logan entered the world six weeks early, but he was born healthy and happy. At 11 months old Logan sadly became victim of shaken baby syndrome at the hands of his biological father.
While his father allegedly gave multiple versions of the story that ultimately changed his son’s life forever, it was determined that Logan's injuries were due to shaken baby syndrome. In the end, Logan’s biological father confessed and told police that he did not remember exactly what had occurred because he was enraged from his infant son’s crying and claims to have blacked out during the ordeal.
Meanwhile, young Logan was left with whiplash, a broken leg, and roughly 80% brain damage from unfathomable rage that was unleashed on this innocent child. Logan was shaken so violently that the optic nerve and retina damage he suffered left him legally blind. “The damage was described by the doctors as being equated to a ten story fall landing on your head,” Logan’s mother Miranda wrote on Facebook.
“Logan was initially given no hope for survival and spent weeks on life support. He was given a feeding tube as he was no longer able to swallow on his own,” Miranda explained to her followers at Logan’s Journey. Logan spent his first birthday in a coma and finally emerged from his coma months after the injury occurred.
Miranda tells us that today 17-year-old Logan has a severe form of epilepsy, is wheelchair-bound, minimal vision, and has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
Logan being hugged by his little sister and best friend, Marley.
“Doctors have no explanation for how he has survived this long or how he has done as well as he has considering he did not have enough brain matter left to sustain any kind of life outside of a vegetative state,” Miranda admits. “He is a very happy child, has a wicked sense of humor, and, like most teenage boys, thinks that anything gross is hilarious.”
As for the person who did this, he was found guilty of felony child abuse in July 2004. He received the maximum sentence at the time of 20 years for felony child abuse and was released on parole in August 2013 after serving less than 9 years of the 20-year sentence. He passed away in May 2018.
Logan’s mother, a force to be reckoned with and a terrific advocate for special needs children, had the state law changed so that child abusers in her state of Mississippi can rightfully receive up to a life sentence for their crime and a mandatory life sentence for all second-time offenders. The law was appropriately named “Logan's Law” and was signed into effect in April of 2005.
When Logan’s mother reached out to us, she knew exactly what he needed—an interior ceiling tracking system to get Logan safely to his bathroom from his bedroom. The motorized tracking system including install would cost just shy of $10,000, a cost most families in this country cannot easily afford. Holton’s Heroes teamed up with the incredible people at Team Luke Hope for Minds to make this wish a reality. After months of planning, Logan’s new track was installed and immediately put to use.
We invite you to check out the demo video Miranda sent us below. Thank you to all our donors that made this possible.
“[Using the lift] was wonderful yesterday. He was able to have floor time without having two people work together to lift him back into his bed—and he thinks the whole thing is hilarious!”
"I hollered at the nurse to start CPR but the nurse just froze and kept repeating 'wake up' to Leila," Toula Porter says of the moment her daughter suffered an anoxic brain injury.