Pictures: Amalia Osborne
As they watch their lively nine-year-old son Cole happily tearing around the football field with his friends, Kiwi league legend Logan Swann and his wife Jennifer can’t help but feel grateful for how far he’s come.
Last year, two seemingly common childhood illnesses became frightening, life-threatening experiences, landing Cole in hospital twice, and leaving his parents and brother Lucas, 14, feeling helpless and scared.
Thankfully, after his ordeal, Cole’s back to his energetic, cheeky self. Logan and Jennifer want to share their story to raise awareness about the importance of parents going with their instincts when it comes to their child’s health.
“We’ve learnt how critical it is to follow your gut if you know something’s wrong or if your child isn’t bouncing back like they should from an illness,” says Logan.
Cole came home from school one day last May feeling unwell. But as a child with a high pain threshold, who often pushes through illnesses so as not to miss his beloved sports, it wasn’t immediately apparent just how sick he was.
“That night, Cole was sitting on the couch with his shirt off. We could see he was struggling to breathe, with his diaphragm working overtime,” recalls Jennifer. “We raced him to an after-hours surgery and discovered his oxygen levels had dropped dangerously low. They sent us straight to Starship Hospital.”
Doctors rushed Cole onto a ward and put on oxygen to help him breathe. It was five days before he was well enough to return home, remembers Jennifer.
“It turned out Cole had rhinovirus, the main cause of the common cold, which rapidly attacked his respiratory system. He couldn’t come completely off the oxygen and breathe again on his own until a few days later.”
After their scary experience, life for the Swanns slowly returned to normal. However, Logan, 49, a former Warriors star and veteran of 29 league tests for the Kiwis, says they remained on high alert when it came to Cole’s health.
“We bought an oxygen sensor so we could monitor Cole’s heart rate and oxygen levels at home,” he says. “We use it regularly on both boys.”
Jennifer adds, “They’re a brilliant, inexpensive device we believe every household should have. We bought one for Cole’s school too. Now they can check any kids coming in with coughs or with breathing issues.”
In late 2023, Cole came home from school one Friday. He immediately fell asleep on the couch, raising alarm bells once again, tells Jennifer.
“A couple of nights later, Cole spiked a fever of 39.4°C. We managed to get it down, but on the Tuesday, he felt sick again and we noticed a yellow residue on his pillow.”
A visit to after-hours revealed Cole had a perforated eardrum and infection. Antibiotics were prescribed, but instead of bouncing back, his condition worsened. He couldn’t keep food down, started vomiting and became increasingly unresponsive, grimacing in his sleep through waves of pain. Two more visits to after-hours and Starship resulted in the worried Swanns being sent home and told to persevere with the antibiotics to clear up the infection.
At home, after noticing Cole had stopped breathing for around 30 seconds, a terrified Logan rushed his son back to Starship.
“We were met by a wonderful doctor. After she saw the state of Cole and the distress in my eyes, she sent him straight off for a CT scan. Within half an hour, we had the results. Cole had a massive infection in the mastoid bone behind his right ear, along with clots on his brain. I couldn’t believe it. I asked if he was going to be OK and the doctor didn’t answer.”
Jennifer and Lucas arrived soon after, with his mum saying it was an “intense and overwhelming” experience to see Cole’s bed surrounded by neurology, Ear, Nose & Throat and ICU teams, discussing how best to help him. After an MRI, the medical teams decided to remove the infected part of the mastoid bone to relieve the pressure on his brain, which had formed clots as a protective measure against the infection. They hoped the clots would dissolve naturally once the infection was gone.
During his league career, some great doctors treated Logan, including Dr Chris Hanna, whom he called for advice.
“Chris said something that stuck with me. ‘Never let the sun go down on an infection’. That cemented the medical teams’ decision to get rid of Cole’s infection first.”
Logan recalls the fear and uncertainty as he and Jennifer anxiously waited for news during their son’s operation.
“They were the longest four hours of our life,” he tells. “When the surgeon came out and said she had got rid of the infection, we just embraced her. It was such a relief.”
Jennifer says she went into “full mum mode” during Cole’s recovery, and Logan was brilliant at handling all the chats with doctors and reading up about his illness.
“Logan had all the hard talks, sheltering Lucas and I from a lot of it. He kept us trucking along and said everything would be fine.”
The family and medical teams endured a worrying week before Cole finally started to improve.
“He didn’t bounce back as fast as the doctors hoped and wasn’t communicative for a few days,” says Jennifer. “It wasn’t until day eight, when I was stroking his hair and hugging him, that he said, ‘Mum, you stink!’ They were the best words I could have heard.”
Within a day or so, Cole was back to eating his favourite chicken katsu. On day 11, doctors discharged him with an impressive battle scar around his “brave ear”.
“He was put on blood thinners for three months, then a scan showed the clots on his brain had dissolved,” says the doting mum. “It was amazing to hear the doctor say, ‘Cole, you can live your best life now!’”
Following the gruelling experience, Jennifer admits she has to keep her helicopter parent tendency in check.
“If my propellers start spinning a bit too fast over Cole, Logan gives me a gentle reminder,” she shares. “This whole experience has made us celebrate and appreciate all the moments we have with our boys, while also letting them live their lives.”
Logan adds how grateful the family is to the dedicated teams at Starship. “They’re such special people, who provided phenomenal care. We also had such great support from our community and church. We’re so happy to have Cole back to his high-energy, endearing self.”
With so many viruses circulating in the community, particularly in winter, Logan and Jennifer are keen to stress the importance of being vigilant and persistent.
“Even common illnesses can aggressively attack people’s immune systems and result in tragic outcomes,” warns Logan. “If you think something isn’t right with your child, go with your gut. Keep pushing for those answers and help.”
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