LOGAN'S BARN
He dreamed of a barn for the animals
Logan Blakey was a terminally ill 10-year-old boy who touched numerous lives and had a simple dream he expressed to his family before passing away…he wanted to build a barn to look after the animals he loved so much. Logan was born with the rare skin disease, giant congenital nevus, which caused him to endure numerous surgeries from the time he was 10 months old. He later developed intra cranial hypertension which is a rare cancer that causes excessive fluid to form on the brain. His family was informed after his last MRI on Jan. 28, 2019, that they didn’t have much time left with him. Logan passed away Feb. 13.
“We were told we only had weeks left with him,” Logan’s mother Jana Blakey said. “It was two weeks and two days. He went much faster than we expected.”
During his last days, Logan was offered a trip to the San Diego Zoo by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. However, he became too sick too fast and was unable to make the trip. His mother, who said Logan was a passionate animal lover, contacted New Life Trails CEO Renee Spears and asked if she could bring the animals to him. “At the time he could barely talk or smile, and had already lost feeling in his arms and legs,” Blakey said. “When Renee brought the animals in he was grinning ear to ear.”
It was during these visits by Spears with a sheep that Logan named Skittles that the barn idea was born. Spears said Logan asked his father Joby Blakey if he could build him a red barn to put the animals in and take care of them. Spears told Logan that she would do what she could to get a barn build for him, paint it red, and name it “Logan’s Barn.”
New Life Trails was was pleased to make that dream come true later that year. Logan's Barn stands as a tribute to a young man that blessed so many and will continue to bless the visitors to our trails.
