CHS student overcomes challenges of epilepsy
“Life can be hard sometimes,” 16-year-old Logan Bromley said, “so it’s important to remember to laugh more.”
It’s a perspective that has gotten the Virginia Beach teen through more than his share of adversity.
Ever since he was stricken with a sudden illness that left him in the hospital for 100 days — 32 of which he spent in a coma — Logan has struggled with epilepsy. Although seizures present him with day-today challenges, he has found ways to cope — through perseverance, adaptability and a bright sense of humor that he shares with those around him.
He is a sophomore at Catholic High School, where he plays drums with the school band and referees during gym class.
“Entering freshman year is difficult enough as it is,” Madison Dellinger, school nurse at CHS, said. “Logan’s resilience has really stood out to me. He always has a positive mindset; he always keeps everyone around him smiling and laughing.”
‘Fighting back’
In October 2013, Logan was a fourth grader living with his parents and older brother in San Diego when he fell ill with a high fever.
“We took him to the emergency room twice,” his mother, Lisa Bromley, said. “They took chest X-rays, took blood, but couldn’t tell what was wrong.”
The family was instructed to take Logan home to rest, but when his parents found that they couldn’t wake him, they returned to the emergency room for a third time. From there, he was immediately transferred to Rady Children’s Hospital, where he would spend the next 100 days.
“Everyone who came in was dressed in full gowns and masks,” Lisa recalled. “On the third day, they took an EEG to look at his brain activity, and found he was in status, a seizure that won’t stop.”
Doctors made the decision to put Logan in a medically-induced coma. Over the next few weeks, they tried three times to wake him, but were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, his class prayed for him.
“The parish rosary group held a novena,” Lisa said. “The pastor led an intercession through St. Junipero Serra for the healing of Logan. Even during Thanksgiving break, when school was out, they still came in to pray.”
It was on the fourth attempt, she said, that doctors were able to finally wake her son.
“They told us that he would need nursing care at the house, that he wouldn’t be able to walk, that he probably wouldn’t relearn how to swallow,” Lisa said. “They prepared us for the worst.”
“Slowly but surely, he fought his way back,” she said. “The only real side effect of that illness is the epilepsy.”
Finding new paths
When Logan began fifth grade at St. Matthew School, Virginia Beach, he worried how his new classmates might view him.
“I didn’t want everyone to look at me as ‘the kid with epilepsy,’” he said. “I didn’t want it to define me.”
To help him adjust, the school invited the Epilepsy Support Group of Hampton Roads to hold a presentation for his class about epilepsy, using puppets to show the children what to do when someone is having a seizure.
“One in 26 people have a seizure in their life. So it’s a good first-aid thing to know,” Lisa said.
When Logan did have a seizure at school that October, his classmates knew how to respond.
“Everyone was super understanding,” he said.
Logan said he’s thankful for the encouragement he’s received from his family and from his teachers at St. Matthew and CHS over the years, especially in helping him find new ways to replace a once-beloved pastime.
Before his illness, he had been an avid hockey player. Once he recovered, however, doctors advised that he not risk participating in such a high contact sport.
So Logan found a new way be a part of the game: by attending referee training at a local skating rink, where he was the youngest candidate in the class. This past year, he refereed for his teacher during P.E. class at CHS.
“I love reffing,” Logan said. “I refereed all during the floor hockey unit. We also had a ping-pong tournament, with six tables set up, and I got to ref the finals.”
“It’s been helpful, since he knows all the rules,” Kristin Patterson, CHS lifestyle wellness teacher, said. “Logan has many strengths and knows no weaknesses,” she said. “Whenever he finds something he can’t do, he finds some way that he can.”
Logan said he has also found a new outlet in music by taking up drums and guitar. This September, he’ll perform with students from his music school at a live venue at the Oceanfront.
“I listen to music more than I do anything,” he said. “Music is actually one of the ways I get through bad days with seizures. I use that to forget about the bad things and to focus on the good.”
He’s also brought his love of music to his school by volunteering to DJ during outdoor events called Fun Fridays.
“Mrs. Patterson would let me hook up my phone to a speaker and DJ,” he said. “As long as I played at least one Backstreet Boys song,” he added, laughing. “She’s a big fan.”
“I’m grateful that the teachers always help me find ways to be included,” he said. “I really never want to have to just sit out.”
Remember to L.I.O.N.
“It’s been a strange year with COVID,” Logan said, “but it hasn’t been a ‘bad year,’ necessarily. It’s just been different. We had to do some days virtually and eat lunch in the classrooms, but we still got to do the fun things. We made the best of it.”
The school year came to a roaring finish for Logan, when he was unexpectedly called out of class one day and presented with a surprise gift from Patterson and Dellinger: a “zoodoption” of the lion exhibit at the Virginia Zoo, home to a three-year-old lion named Emery, who, like Logan, struggles with epilepsy.
“It’s been a trying year for everyone,” Patterson said, “and Logan has persevered through it all. He has such a big heart. Just like a lion. We’ve been so impressed with all that he’s done.”
“My first reaction was,” Logan said, “I was actually worried that I was in trouble, because they asked to speak to me alone. But then when I found out I was getting the adoption certificate, that totally blew me away because I had no idea. It meant a lot, just coming from the goodness of their hearts.”
As part of the zoodoption, Logan had the chance to talk to Emery’s keeper.
“It was interesting to learn that the lion is actually on one of the same medications that I am on,” he said. “Also, hearing of all the ways they protect it — making sure it doesn’t get too near water, making sure it doesn’t get too hot. — I thought, ‘I’ve heard that before.’”
The visit to the zoo inspired him to come up with an acronym of his own — one that sums up the philosophy he’s chosen to embrace: L.I.O.N.
“Because of my epilepsy, I said that I always have to remember to L.I.O.N.,” Logan explained. “With epilepsy, I have to remember to laugh, to inspire others, I have to own it, and I have to never give up.”