Miracle Angel

AS SOON as the door of the speech therapy room was opened, Angel Aaria Logie made a bee line straight to her father, West Indies coach Augustine ‘Gus’ Logie. The five-year-old was no doubt in her glee since the end of her session signalled not only lunchtime, but a day out with her celebrity daddy. Angel, is noticeably petite for her age but understandably so since her early years, from birth onwards, have been topsy-turvy.

On May 6, 1999, doctors at the Mt Hope Medical Sciences Complex had to perform an emergency Caesarean section on Lisa Logie because of her hypertensive case. Lisa believed that her condition, which she inherited from her mother, became critical after excessive consumption of salty foods. Angel was due in August of that year, but it was only the 27th week of Lisa’s pregnancy when Angel was born. Just two weeks before, Lisa, science teacher at San Fernando Senior Comprehensive School, had been diagnosed with eclampsia — a condition experienced by pregnant women whereby convulsions lead to a coma.

Up until that time, Lisa and Gus were “very scared” since doctors explained that Angel had a “50/50”chance of survival. Lisa had to be administered a form of steroids to aid in the development of Angel’s lungs; and for the surgery, she had to be sedated. Her blood pressure had skyrocketed to 200/120. “One time, at the hospital, I remember telling Dr Ali that I’m seeing cracks in the wall, only to be told that there were none,” Lisa told People. At birth, Angel weighed a mere one pound and 12 ounces. (Only recently Newsday reported the story of three-month-old Anjalie Dhanraj of Cunupia who was also born premature, weighing one pound six ounces.) When Lisa saw her baby two days later, she was astounded by Angel’s appearance. She recalled: “According to my son (Aaron) ‘she looked like an alien, only that she wasn’t green.’ I remember looking at a light bulb and thinking the bulb was bigger than her head. But then I thought that God could have snuffed out her life, but the fact that she lived meant that he had something in store for her.

“Her limbs were long. I saw no skin. She was so transparent that you could see her blood vessels. She was no more than 12 inches in length and very skinny.” Angel remained at the hospital for 75 days, during which time her parents and siblings Aaron, 11, and Giovan, 13, visited her. “I took my year off from school to spend the days with Angel,” Lisa said. Cricket travels with the West Indies team sometimes kept Gus away but he would constantly be on the phone monitoring Angel’s condition. Not a day passed when Lisa didn’t visit at the hospital. Her weekly ritual began when she dropped the boys off to school, then to the hospital “and leave just in time to pick them up in the evening.” According to Lisa, the hospital’s policy obtains that a baby born premature had to double its birth weight first before being released. “Angel was too small to be held. All Gus and I could do was put our hands in and caress her. I used to sing to her and the day she smiled it was like heaven on earth for me because I realised she recognised my voice.” “Baby Logie,” as the hospital staff called her, had to be fed via a tube. “She couldn’t suck so my breast milk had to be expressed and her very first meal was one mililitre (of breast milk). Later on, I had to feed her from a vial, just as they do chickens.”

Lisa told of the time when one of the nurses discovered that Angel had stopped breathing, just as she was about to be fed. “The doctor said that sometimes they get too tired to breathe and they would give up.” Dr Chopra, whom Lisa said was an intern from India at the time “sort of adopted Angel and was there to give her her 11 o’clock feed every night, something he didn’t even have to do. “I think it’s because of my very supportive friends and relatives and the hospital staff that brought Angel through. When Angel was born every single denomination had a prayer going for her. Everybody who knew about our situation was praying for her. My husband was real supportive and we were confident in what the doctors were saying...they were doing everything in their power. I thank Camini Lutchman and all the other doctors who went out of their way. When I got to hold Angel, they would tell me ‘be careful that baby doesn’t fall after all we went through.”

Now, Angel has grown into a healthy and active child (she loves to wrestle with her brothers), save for the occasional bouts of epilepsy. The Logies’ biggest challenge came when at age three, Angel experienced an epileptic seizure that lasted 45 minutes. “Now she’s on medication for it and only experiences smaller ones called ‘petite mal’ that last two minutes. She’s doing very well. We have seen vast improvements in her speech.” Angel has physical and speech therapy once per week since her speech and walking has been delayed. She is a bit wobbly when she walks since “the area of her brain that deals with balance was traumatised during delivery, Lisa said.

“Doctors say at this stage she’ll always be a little clumsy. I’ve realised it’s just having patience and trusting God that Angel’s purpose will be fulfilled. God alone knows... At the hospital I’ve seen babies born with their eyes fused, babies who didn’t make it... But Angel has a real fighting spirit and that assisted in bringing her through.” The Logies, who live in Aripero, said that another challenge was having to travel to distant parts of the country to access therapeutic assistance for Angel. “I want her to see an occupational therapist and I understand that the only accessible one is in Petit Valley; and there are only two in the country.”