A daredevil in every way

Logan Hazzard, son of Roy and Tracey of St. Joe, has been described by doctors as “a true medical curiosity.” In every other way he’s a typical kid, except maybe more of a daredevil than most.

“He’s one of these wild childs,” said his grandmother, Karel (Roy, Sr.) Hazzard of Gallatin. “Nothing slows him down.”

Logan is good at getting over life’s bumps and bruises. He’s faced a few trials that hugs, band-aids and aspirin couldn’t fix. Logan, 9, a fourth grader at Eugene Field, had open heart surgery to close a hole in his heart in June of last year.

Over Easter, Logan complained of an earache. A trip to the doctor revealed no infection. A nurse practitioner, Diane Castle, listened to his heart.

“She had a keen ear,” said Logan’s father Roy, Jr. Roy was born and raised in Gallatin and graduated from GHS in 1984. Roy works at Midwest Grain Products in Atchison, Kan. Logan’s mother Tracey is a school teacher at Humbolt Elementary in St. Joe. “She listened to Logan’s heart with a quizzical look. She said he had a murmur.”

The next day Logan went to Heartland Hospital for x-rays. The following day he had an ultrasound exam of the heart (echocardiogram), which revealed an atrial septal defect (ASD). With ASD, an opening exists between the heart’s two upper chambers.

A week later Logan met with a cardiologist who recommended open heart surgery to close the hole and prevent serious problems in the future.

“The doctor said it was something we needed to do and the younger the better,” said Roy.

Logan had his surgery in June. Most people would be nervous facing a routine surgery, but Logan faced the major medical procedure with his usual spunk.

“He goes, ‘Do I have to?’ I told him ‘Yes, we do,’” said Roy. “He was fine with it. We prayed about it. He’s dedicated to Christ. We accepted it as a challenge we had to meet and went from there.”

During the surgery, doctors were pretty amazed to discover that Logan had two orifices coming out of his heart instead of one normal valve. The condition presented no medical concerns and the surgeon only sutured the hole.

“He may have to have valve replacement when he’s an old man, but there’s no concern with the valve at this point,” said Roy.

Logan recuperated quickly. After four weeks of recovery time he was able to get back to baseball, bikes and skates. “I’d probably still be curled up,” said Roy.

The Dream Factory took Logan and his mother to Disney World in Florida before school started. Logan stayed at the Grand Floridian resort area for a week.

In addition, Logan was a guest of the Chiefs at their game against Cincinnati on New Year’s Day where he got to see his favorite Chief Tony Gonzalas before and after the game. Logan had two extra guest passes, so he took both of his grandpas. Logan and his family watched from the Farmland Foods luxury suite. After the game, his father took him down into the Chiefs locker room to get some autographs.

About two months after his surgery, Logan was back to racing ATVs again. He took fifth place at the Iowa ATV Hare Scramble Series and won first place at a race in Brooks, Iowa. He also raced at Motorcross at Trenton.

“He’s always been a real go-getter,” his father said. “You couldn’t tell he had anything wrong.”

Logan is too busy just being a kid.