An Indiana toddler has died days after he was found with his neck stuck in the window of a vehicle in what his family said was a horribly tragic accident.
Two-year-old Logan Vanderkleed died just after 1 a.m. Thursday surrounded by more than a dozen family members and friends in a hospital room, his mother wrote on Facebook.
“Drew, Logan's dad, was holding Logan while 20 friends and family members were singing praise and worship songs together in his hospital room,” Logan’s mom, Lisa Vanderkleed wrote on a page dedicated to updating on the boy’s condition. “I felt a strong urge to hold Logan. He just wanted his mommy. Moments after I got him, he took his last breath.”
Logan was discovered with his neck stuck in a vehicle's window on Aug. 17. He had been without oxygen for several minutes and had no pulse.
Family said the boy’s father and grandfather work on a farm and had taken the couple’s two children - Logan and his 5-year-old sister Kendra - to work with them. The kids had fallen asleep in the car so he left the vehicle running with the air conditioning on as the two fathers cleaned out a vehicle next to it.
“Our son must have decided to put the window down to look for daddy or tell them something and then somehow rolled it up on himself (the window button on the explorer is a toggle switch so left and right makes it go up and down) which is unlike our other car window in which you actually have to pull up on the lever to move the window,” Vanderkleed wrote. "So we are assuming he stuck his head out to look for daddy or tell daddy something and maybe his knee or foot hit the button on the door and he freaked out and couldn't reach it or figure out how to unroll it.”
When her husband turned around to check on the kids minutes later, he saw his son “with his head stuck in the almost completely rolled-up window.”
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“Even with them right there, accidents happen quickly...” Vanderkleed wrote.
Logan was transported to an area hospital and was air-lifted to Riley Children’s Hospital where doctors told family he had low brain function and his body was shaking from extensive brain nerve damage.
“The doctors said his brain damage is one of the worst they have seen,” his mother wrote on Facebook the next day, saying the family was preparing for the worst.
But Logan continued to fight for several more days.
Family members were preparing to donate the young boy’s organs when he began breathing on his own and was taken out of the operating room.
But hours later, Logan could not survive on his own.
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His family thanked the thousands of people that sent messages of love and support during their trying time.
“Logan is no longer with us, but the prayers, compassion, and encouragement from this community have been greatly appreciated by his family,” a post on the Facebook page Love for Logan read.
A GoFundMe page was also started to help with the family’s medical bills. By Friday morning, the page had raised more than $16,700, well over the campaign’s $10,000 goal.
