BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS DAILY
For DANA SWISHER and her son LOGAN THOMAS, every day at the Eugene Family YMCA is a good day.
That’s because the Y is the perfect playground for Logan to practice navigating with a cane, gain core strength to support his curved spine, manage his autism and gain social skills with people who care about him. Logan has Bardet Biedl Syndrome, a condition that affects only 1 in 160,000 people.
“The Y changed everything,” Dana says. “Shortly after we joined, we came home from the Y and Logan was enthusiastic about being a member. It wasn’t just a building with machines in it anymore; it was a building with people and he was one of the people."
The mother-son duo have been members since 2015. Logan’s shown significant progress in the last 5 years. We can’t resist coming to the Y every day and it’s coupled with incredible results,” Dana says. “He lost so much weight, and language came on because using your body helps your mind create language.”
Logan’s condition was not obvious when he was born. But Dana’s worries increased as her baby didn’t meet traditional milestones. Logan, now 18, didn’t show emotion until he was 4. He slowly lost sight until, at age 9, he was blind. It wasn’t until age 13 that he began using words.
Those challenges made parenting difficult and Dana found herself socially isolated as well. Y Membership Engagement Specialist Rich Palmieri told Dana that a Y membership might just help her as well as Logan.
“I came into the YMCA and everyone treated us like we were wanted,” Dana recalls. “It was safe. The atmosphere is comfortable. There was a gentleman in a wheelchair and he came right up to me and said, ‘The YMCA is about family.’ That’s what I love about it.”
These days, Logan scans his membership card by himself. He can find the stairs with his cane and go up and down them by himself. He can bounce a basketball in the gym with his mom. And his core strength has improved so much that he can give his mom the bear hug she’s dreamed of getting from her son.
“As a mom, I would like to give Logan something for the rest of his life—a place where everything fits him,” Dana says. “A place where every kind of person comes. The YMCA is that kind of place.
