Logan Sweet
This is the story of our son, Logan.
He died May 9, 2008. He was six years old.
My sweet Logan was a child full of energy,
health and beauty, the most active little boy I have ever
known. He loved life and made the most of every moment of every
day. When he walked into the room, his smile and laughter filled
the room with positive energy. He was loved very much by family, friends
and his school. He loved playing soccer, T-ball, basketball, snowboarding,
exercising and dancing, which he called “doing his moves”. Thomas the
Train was his first love at the age of two, followed by Spiderman, Legos and
Transformers. He enjoyed climbing trees, going for hikes, swimming,
counting with numbers and coins, playing with his friends and making people
laugh. He was the best big brother to his little sister and baby
brother. They looked up to him and loved him very much.
“Mommy,
let’s cuddle”. Logan was a very
affectionate boy and loved to snuggle on the couch first thing in the morning
to get warm. He was my little cuddle
bug. I miss cuddling with him greatly.
Friday,
May 9th 2008. I will never forget this day: the day that
changed my life forever. Friday began like any other day. Logan was
off to school, happy as can be. He was excited about the first T-ball game
scheduled the next day. His sister Jaclyn went to
preschool, and I was home with baby Ryan. In the afternoon the
bus dropped Logan off at the end of the road along with a neighborhood
friend. The boys wanted a play date, so we all headed back to the play
set in our back yard. The two boys climbed around like monkeys for
over an hour. At 5:00pm, the neighbors went home, and we went inside to
get ready for dinner, Logan's favorite...a fruit salad. When dinner was over, I ran upstairs and left
Logan and his sister in the den playing with his Thomas the
Train.
Moments
later I came downstairs and found Logan sitting on the floor in a very
awkward position. His upper body was folded over with his head
between his knees. I asked Logan to sit up; he didn’t move. I set Ryan
down and rolled Logan over. My heart stopped; he wasn’t breathing.
He was blue around his eyes and mouth. I scooped him up and ran to the
kitchen and dialed 91l. I followed the dispatchers
instructions. My husband arrived home to find me doing CPR on our
son. The doctors pronounced Logan dead at 6:47pm at the hospital. The
paramedics were not able to revive him in the ambulance. I truly
believe that Logan died at home in my arms.
Two
days later on Sunday (Mother’s Day) we learned that Logan had an enlarged
heart, cause unknown. Almost four months later we were told that Logan died of
Myocarditis. A virus had attacked his heart, causing it to become 75%
larger than normal.
Logan
showed no signs of heart problems. He was full of life, always ready to
run and play. He had no shortness of breath, showed
no signs of dizziness, never complained of leg cramps. Ironically, Logan's
annual physical was May 7th, two days before his death. As with
every annual physical since his birth, I mentioned to the doctor
that Logan had a heart murmur as an infant. The doctor listened extra
long to his heart and said that everything sounded fine. Unfortunately in a lot
of cases like Logan’s the first and only sign of this disease is death.
After
Logan died, I heard more stories of teenagers collapsing in gym
class and athletes falling on the fields. My heart breaks for the
families of these young people. There must be
some way to detect this disease before it is too late.
Please help and donate to a wonderful
foundation, The Logan Sweet Foundation. The money raised will go to the
Myocarditis Foundation for research. The
Myocarditis Foundation’s hope is that with more knowledge about the disease, physicians
will provide earlier and more effective treatment that will save
lives. Your donation will help researchers learn more about this heart
condition and help spread awareness to doctors, pediatricians and parents.
Thank you,
Carolyn and Jon Sweet, proud parents of Logan Sweet