A family shattered by the loss of their beautiful baby boy at just six months old are fundraising for the charity which helped them through their heartache.
Leigh Irvine and Colin Neil are aiming to walk 6K around the James Hamilton Heritage Loch with family and friends next month to remember their ‘little angel’, Logan, and boost the funds of bereavement charity, Brightest Star.
It provides memory boxes for grieving families as well as other support services.
Logan was born with severe hydrocephalus and chromosome 13 deletion, which doctors warned would be life-limiting.
The diagnosis came as a total shock to his devastated parents, from Lindsayfield in East Kilbride.
Leigh, 36, and Colin, 37, were only aware of the complication at a 37-week scan – until then the excited parents-to-be thought all was well with the pregnancy.
Their precious son was born by emergency section just 10 hours after they were given the devastating news.
And, despite battling through seven surgeries in his six months of life, he passed away in July.
Leigh said: “We discovered the shattering news about Logan’s complications at a scan at Wishaw General.
“This was undiagnosed and came as a shock to everyone. We were sent straight to The Queen Elizabeth in Glasgow and he was born by emergency section just 10 hours later.
“It was just heart breaking. We didn’t even know if he would take his first breath.
“I still don’t know how Colin managed to hold it together to drive from Wishaw to Glasgow.
“My mum had Logan’s big brother, Lucas, and we had to try and tell mum what was going on without telling Lucas at that stage. We were just shattered.
“When Logan was born we were told his condition was life-limiting and we just had to take every day as a blessing – no one was very sure what would happen.
“The wee soul had to go through seven surgeries in six months and five of those surgeries were in his first seven weeks in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU).”
Despite the massive challenges Logan faced, he was eventually allowed home and Leigh and Colin managed to organise a party so that many of their close family and friends, who hadn’t been able to meet him while he was in hospital, got the chance to do so.
Poignantly, this was just a few weeks before he passed away. “It was such a blessing that we managed to do that and we were so glad those closest to us got to meet Logan and he spent time at home,” Leigh went on.
“He was a wee warrior. We were told that after surgeries he might need to be intubated and could be groggy for a bit, but he came back from them awake and smiling away – he had a smile that would light up a room.
“The staff at the Queen Elizabeth’s sick kids’ ward were absolutely amazing – they were angels to us.”
Due to the hydrocephalus, Logan would hold his breath.
Leigh continued: “Our boy took an episode at home and he was blue-lighted to Hairmyres. The paramedics were phenomenal, they couldn’t have been any kinder to us. The staff at Hairmyres went above and beyond.
“My mum and Lucas, along with ourselves, got to spend all the time we needed with him after he passed. All the staff were so lovely.”
It was in the immediate aftermath of their loss that the Brightest Star charity, through the palliative care team at the Queen Elizabeth, provided immeasurable support.
While the family had hand prints of Logan’s, Brightest Star organised foot and hand castings while he was in Heritage Funeral Care in EK.
“Brightest Star did absolutely everything for us. When we lost Logan we just weren’t in the mindset to
do anything and we wouldn’t have even known where to start,” Leigh went on.
“But we now have the most amazing bronze casting of his foot and hand, which in the early days of the grief were such a comfort to us.
“And without the charity we wouldn’t have them.
“The memory box is full of things we will treasure forever like a teddy, which Logan had and a lock of hair.
“I also have a necklace with his hand and foot print and his dad has a key-ring.
“All in all it’s been a tough year for us as we lost Logan’s grandpa in December. But we take comfort that Logan is with him, in his arms.”
And as well as remembering their boy during the charity walk on Saturday, May 14, Leigh and Colin want to help others.
“We want to help other families going through this heartache and
we know just how precious the memory boxes are and how much they mean to the whole family,” Leigh said.
The family also want to thank neighbours in Catacol who, without whom, the six months they had with Logan would have “been so much harder”, Leigh added.
To support the family go to their fundraising page at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/leigh-irvine-team-logan or the Team Logan Sponsored Walk Facebook page at www.facebook.com/events/1135384163948770
