Triad grad survives multiple relapses, septic shock after leukemia diagnosis

By Charles Bolinger

Editor

Imagine that one of your children becomes ill. Your child has always been healthy as can be, so there could not possibly be anything remotely serious. Their pediatrician diagnoses them, but you know your child and something just doesn’t seem right. You get a second opinion from a children’s hospital and learn he or she has a rare blood disease that will upend life as you’ve known it.

In a nutshell, that has been the Kowalski Family’s past 5.5 years, especially for Logan and Jennifer Kowalski, Logan’s mother.

Logan, who turned 18 on Aug. 6, has been on a medical odyssey. Now a Triad School District alum after graduating with his class in May, Logan has been where few other teenagers have gone.

While he was a seventh-grader at Triad Middle School in late 2019, Logan became ill. 

“He started having night sweats, fevers and chills,” she remembered. “He was also lethargic.”

He was first diagnosed with a sinus infection then they later diagnosed him with Mononucleosis, a.k.a. Mono. Jennifer said she doubted that was correct, especially after checking with others who had had mono; the symptoms Logan presented did not fit the disease’s profile.

She questioned the doctor, who told her that if she disputed his or her diagnosis then perhaps she should take Logan to a children’s hospital.

Focused on finding out what was wrong with her son and to get Logan well, Jennifer accepted the doctor’s challenge. She and her husband, Frank, and daughter, Alyssa, took Logan to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis.

After many examinations, blood draws, blood tests and other things, hospital doctors diagnosed him as having B-ALL leukemia on Jan. 3, 2020.

According to WebMD.com, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common type of cancer in children. It affects certain cells in the immune system, called B cells and T cells. ALL usually affects B cells in children. B-cell ALL makes a child more likely to get infections because they lack the protection of those B cells.

“They told us at Children’s that if we hadn’t brought Logan in when we did, we would have lost him,” Jennifer recalled. Twelve days later, they realized that he had a rare form of leukemia, Ph-like, which makes relapses highly likely and decreases the survival rate.

That January visit turned into a 30-day stay until Feb. 1, when Logan briefly came home.

Jennifer remembered that in 2020, when he came home, the family received a police escort and people stood lining the streets, waving and shouting at them as they passed. 

That home visit was followed by 2.5 years of chemotherapy. The indirect costs started piling up almost immediately. Jennifer said they went from a two-income family to only Frank working after she quit her job to take care of their son.

A blessing in disguise, Jennifer recounted, was that the diagnosis coincided with the onset of COVID-19 nationwide and that made it easier to explain to Logan it wasn’t just he who had to remain indoors, wear masks and frequently wash his hands, among other steps. 

Logan missed the rest of his seventh-grade year at Triad Middle, plus his eighth-grade year. He spent about a month of his freshman year at Triad High but missed his entire sophomore year, some of his junior year and only spent three weeks there as a senior, according to his mother.

“Both schools were amazing [about Logan’s situation],” his mother said. “We never had to fight for anything. He made it his mission to walk on stage to graduate with his friends in May.”

Matt Noyes, Logan’s former middle school principal, described things from the district’s perspective.

“We started TriadTough at TMS when Logan was diagnosed in seventh grade, as a way of supporting the Kowalski family and reassuring them that no one fights alone in our Triad family,” said Noyes, who is currently superintendent of the Lebanon School District. “Rather than doing T-shirts, bracelets, etc. with Logan’s name, we thought it could be something more universal that could support the Kowalski family in their time of need but also be broad enough to support others going through a difficult time for any number of reasons (death, medical diagnosis, fire, etc.),” he said. “I know that shortly after this got off the ground at TMS, a group from the high school started the official Triad Strong foundation for the entire district, which was awesome to see.

“During Logan’s initial diagnosis, he and his family primarily needed love, prayers and gracious understanding regarding his school work. Our teachers were, of course, patient, understanding and extremely flexible during Logan’s hospitalizations and treatments. We were more worried about his health, well-being and morale than his school work. I was extremely proud of both our staff and Logan and his family for navigating such a difficult situation with grace, love and positive attitudes.”

Logan’s high school principal agreed with Noyes.

“We are incredibly proud of Logan, who showed remarkable courage and determination throughout his high school years while battling cancer,” said Kelli Barbour, who leads Triad High School. “Despite facing challenges that would have stopped many [people], he never gave up on his dream of graduating with his classmates, and this year, he did precisely that with the Class of 2025. Logan is an inspiration to all of us. His perseverance, positive spirit and commitment to his education have left a lasting mark on our school and our community. He has shown us what it truly means to face adversity with strength and grace,” she said. “On behalf of the students, staff, and families of THS, we celebrate Logan’s achievement and the powerful example he has set. His story reminds us that determination and hope can overcome even the greatest obstacles.”

Logan’s first major hurdle happened just three months before he would have completed his first 2.5 years of chemotherapy; he relapsed.

After that, his doctors switched tactics, putting Logan on an intensive version of chemotherapy, which meant another 2.5 years of it. 

In June 2024, just three weeks after he finished chemo and after spending every holiday as an inpatient, he finally rang the bell. Surrounded by his hospital staff and family and close friends he proudly rang that bell.

Two weeks later, he relapsed again just days before he was supposed to take his Make-A-Wish trip to Hawaii. The next step was to try a new and upcoming treatment called CAR-T. This is where they take t-cells from Logan’s body that were harvested much earlier and mutate them in a lab to better fight off the disease.

Because Logan’s cancer was prone to relapse, the family was told of a new study program in New York City that tested the effects of adding a second dose of CAR-T. CAR T-cell therapy is a type of cancer immunotherapy that uses a patient’s own genetically modified T cells to fight cancer. It involves collecting T cells, modifying them in a lab to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) and then infusing them back into the patient to attack cancer cells.

Logan and his family headed to New York City in October 2024 for a month, where hospital officials administered a second set of CAR-T cells. Logan was in remission for six months when again, he relapsed and the cancer came back. Thankfully, his oncologist, Dr. Chris Hugge, was able to catch this relapse before it could spread faster.

This gave the Kowalskis one last attempt for a cure, a bone marrow transplant. This was dangerous and Logan’s body was already compromised by all the effects of the toxic chemotherapy drugs. To administer bone marrow cells, she explained that with the transplant, Logan effectively had no immune system, no platelets for blood clotting and no defenses against the simplest of diseases. They used chemo and radiation to get him to this stage to do cell transplants.

“The night before the transplant, he got super sick all night, then just as we thought he was feeling better, his blood pressure bottomed out. They called a Rapid Response Team to treat Logan as he was declining fast. They then transported him to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit or PICU as he had gone into septic shock. His major organs began to shut down and the doctors told us that his only option was to be put on an Ecmo machine,” she remembered.

According to a quick Internet search, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation or ECMO is a life-saving medical technology that temporarily takes over the functions of the heart and/or lungs. It is used when these organs are unable to function properly due to severe illness or injury. 

Jennifer said it was a fateful choice; put him on it when he has no clotting factors and no platelets or don’t.

“They told us to go into his room to say good-bye to him but warned us not to scare him. He had to be intubated,” she said.

At that point, Dr. Deepika Bahtla, a pediatric hematologist, intervened, pleading with the Ecmo doctors to wait and give her 20 minutes to run a bag of transplant cells through Logan’s cardiovascular system. This was not something they would normally do since cell transplants normally take hours to run but as a last chance effort she quickly ran them. His vital signs shockingly improved, so she added two more bags, which took 40 more minutes.

Logan’s first three days in the PICU were touch-and-go while the fourth day was better, Jennifer said. By the sixth day, he seemed to be out of the woods. However, she knew a risk still remained. All of his marrow cells were donated at this point; they could be finicky and suddenly start showing signs of rejection, but for now Logan was becoming more stable. After a very eventful summer for the Kowalski family, 60 days of being inpatient and a lot of hard work, they were able to take Logan home just before his 18th birthday. 

Jennifer now takes Logan to Cardinal Glennon two to three times a week for check-ups and tests. Logan has to stick to extreme quarantining and this will be a long, slow journey to recovery in hopes that this just may be the cure. There are many side effects from all of the many years of toxic lifesaving treatments have had on Logan’s body, especially his bones. Despite just turning 18, his mother said he will need a double hip replacement and a shoulder replacement.

Logan’s sister, Alyssa, is a nursing student at Eastern Illinois University and she selflessly comes home on weekends to care for her little brother. She is his best friend and his biggest advocate. This has all proved to be crucial hands-on training for her as she has secured a nursing position at Cardinal Glennon after she graduates.

The Troy community has been vigilant from day one in their pouring of love and support on the Kowalski’s.

Jennifer remembered that in 2020, local businesses had Welcome Logan on their signs to show their support to this brave warrior. A friend then started, what has now become the biggest blessing, a Facebook page called Team Logan, where Jennifer could put all of Logan’s updates.

Jennifer recalls, “It seems like just as we think TeamLogan (Facebook page/community) couldn’t possibly grow more than it has, we are left speechless at the beginning of every new battle. This team has never left our sides and has continued to grow, support us, stand by us and pray with us through our best and worst days. God truly could not have given us a more kind, compassionate, caring, supportive community as we are forever grateful.”

“Working with Logan was both humbling and inspiring,” said his high school counselor, Heidi Houchens. “Logan was truly an example of resilience and determination. I was also able to work with an incredible team of dedicated teachers who amazed me every day with their creative teaching and ability to think outside the box. I have never been more proud to be a part of Triad High School than I have been during these last four years. Kendra put it best: ‘We just wanted school to be a place where, for a few hours a day, he could just be a teenage boy.’ Most importantly, Logan and his family left their mark on my heart, and they made me want to not only be better at my job but to be a better person.”

“We could not have made it for 5.5 years without our community,” Jennifer said. She explained the bulk of their families are not local; they are in the Chicagoland area, making it almost impossible for anyone to help Jennifer at the hospital while Frank works and Alyssa is away at college.

“With Logan, the main objective has always been how can we create the most normal, best possible high school experience for him,” said Kendra Litteken, a special education teacher at Triad High. “How can we include him in all the typical things that teenagers get to do? How can we make this a setting that has nothing to do with cancer and treatments and make school a place for him to be a kid as much as possible? What can we do to bring a smile to his face and ease his troubles for just a bit?”

“This community has always proven that no one fights alone. The community’s support has allowed me to be at home with Logan. They have been creative with fundraisers and community help,” Jennifer said.

From gifts that show up on their porch to fundraisers, Troy has shown up. In 5.5 years, they have had many fundraisers, From a 4th of July popsicle stand, a neighborhood barbecue, Super Bowl squares, Go Fundme accounts, businesses like Time Out, Old Herald, Texas Road House and Bert’s Chuckwagon and Gateway Impressions have assisted friends in hosting fundraisers. 

All of this extra funding has helped pay some of the costs of medical bills that piled up, added to the family’s ability to travel for extra treatment(s) and made it possible for Jennifer to attend every one of her son’s appointments and every lengthy hospital admission. The family is forever grateful.

Through all of this, Logan has been a stoic warrior. “He never complains, despite all of the setbacks he’s been through,” she said. He missed his proms, homecomings, football games, sports, his graduation party and so many other academic activities and extracurricular things that are taken for granted by most middle and high school students. He has lost so much of his adolescence yet he never complains and just keeps fighting. She is amazed by his strength and positive outlook. Jennifer adds, “God has a bigger plan for Logan, it was proven that this Summer, let alone these past 5.5 years.”

“We don’t know how to thank everyone enough for fighting the battle with us this long and always proving that in Troy, no one fights alone. Thank you God, Troy, and TEAMLOGAN from the bottom of our hearts. We couldn’t have done it without you.” In our community no one fights alone

“We don’t even know how to thank people enough,” Jennifer said. 

Five years, 8 months or 2,050 days. That is how Logan Kowalski, a recent Triad High School graduate has been battling a form of leukemia. Three rounds of cancer, no breaks; something no child should ever have to go through. This journey has been a rather bumpy road for this family, but through it all, God has shown up in many miraculous ways. God has shown up in this community being the hands and feet of Christ pouring love onto a family in need.