To All Members

I am appealing to you all on behalf of one of the families in our great club for some help. Logan Jackson, who was in my U/14s age group this season, was just this week diagnosed with a Brain Tumour which is situated very close to his spine. The diagnosis as you can imagine has come as a huge shock to the family and they are asking for support where ever they can. Logan is currently at home with his family and will be admitted to Sydney Children's Hospital in the coming weeks for an operation to remove as much of the tumour as they can. After this operation Logan will have an extended stay in the Intensive Care Unit followed by follow-up treatment as required.

Logan's mum Natalie is a single parent to 4 children, Logan being the 2nd eldest. Unfortunately they live too close to Sydney Children's Hospital to qualify for Ronald Macdonald house accommodation and are therefor having to look for suitable accommodation for Natalie, Lakeisha, Jayden and Zane in the Randwick area for the duration of Logan's ICU and Hospital admission. As you can imagine accommodation in the Eastern Suburbs isn't cheap.

The family are working on organising a fundraiser to help raise some funds, however they have more immediate concerns to cover first. The Surf Club would like to help as best we can, so with a couple of events coming up ( patrol dinner tonight, presentation afternoon on 26th may) we will look to pass the hat around. A facebook page is in the making also for any further help and updates.

Any member who would like to help out can make a donation to the Club's bank account, with any donation over $10 being tax deductable. The Club will then on forward this to Natalie and the family to help with the burden of paying for accommodation.

Account Name: Helensburgh-Stanwell Park SLSC

BSB: 062 164

Account: 0090 5331

Ref Logan - Donation

If anyone can offer any other assistance to the family, please give Tara Johnson (Logan's Aunty) a call on 0433 897 848

Logan has been in good health all year, and only complained of having a sore back all the time. Whenever he visited the doctors about it, they put it down to growing pains, however further in depth tests have just discovered this tumor.

Please help where you can, so Logan and his family can have less to worry about. We wish Logan the very best for his operation, and will be channelling as many positive thoughts his way as we can.

Regards

Carl Williams

President

Helensburgh-Stanwell Park Surf Life Saving Club

23 May 2013

Logan was operated on tuesday and is currently recovering well despite a couple of complications ( can't move/ lift his right arm and and has palsy in his throat, meaning he isn't able to swallow) he will be for the next 7-9 days. The Dr's removed 90% of the tumor and now its a waiting game for Logan and his family. Anyone wishing to follow Logans progress can search Logans Journey on facebook for updates.

As a result of all your donations, the Club has been able to pass onto them a total so far of $1350 to allow Natalie and her 3 other children, to be close to Logan throughout this ordeal.

A message passed on from Natalie, (Logans Mum) was - Thank you so much for organising and collecting donations to enable myself and my other children to be with Logan through this scary time. Please pass on my thanks to everyone who made this possible for my family. Thanks again Natalie, Lakeisha, Logan, Jayden and Zane

26 May 2013

 Logan has had to endure many challenges this past week. One of which was having a nasal feeding tube inserted and after four attempts they had to call in a specialist who was able to get the job done. His oxygen levels are a concern and is having chest and lung problems, with no less than four X-RAYs. They have poked and prodded him all day without a single complaint from him.

Logan has had another major set back on Friday and was back in surgery, he has a perforated bowel, which was giving him stomach pains and he just couldn't get any food down. Again he will be in the ICU ward until these complications are addressed

Despite these setbacks and concerns, the family is extremely thankful and grateful for all the help whether it be from donations or in kind help they have received.

4 June 2013

For those unaware, here is a couple of updates on Logan's condition over the last few days, from his family

Saturday June 1

Logan's been fairly stable over the last couple of days recovering from his ordeal apart from his temperatures that are still up and down. Logan had a settled night last night and Drs are talking about taking him off the ventilator today, which will be awesome. We also got Logan's results of the tumour biopsy yesterday the Drs have said its a grade one malignant tumour, we meet with the oncology team next week to discuss treatment.

Monday June 3

Logan is still in isolation, had a pretty bad day yesterday his right lung has deteriorated so they have put a drain in, he also has a fungal/yeast infection in his tummy from all the antibiotics, so they have to give him another antibiotic for that, go figure! So from 48 hrs of being somewhat stable to more setbacks, thought we were done with bad news! Had a CT scan & results shows his tummy surgery is healing up nicely, but has a minor problem with his bowl. All of his current problems stems from his abdominal surgery, as far as his brain tumour goes that seems to be insignificant in comparison, who would have thought, he should have been well and truly home by now! They have given him some extra sedation to help him rest, had a pretty good night last night & has been asleep for most of the day today. Still no sign of him coming off the respirator as yet.

Anyone who has not received a receipt for their donation, please contact Harley Dreghorn on 0418 478 116, so one can be issued