A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help a young Red Deer family, after their newborn daughter contracted an infection that nearly took her life.

Little baby Logan was born a month premature, and contracted meningitis at four weeks old.

“It ended up doing damage to her brain, quite a bit of damage,” said Logan’s mom Shannon Coumont.

Coumont and Logan’s dad Chuck Swain have been off work for months.

The 21-year-old mom says it was on February 26 - Logan’s original due date - when she noticed her daughter was pale, wouldn’t stop crying and wasn’t eating. That’s when they took her to Red Deer Regional Hospital. “They rushed her by STARS [Air Ambulance] to Edmonton Stollery.”

Logan’s mom says on top of the added stress of not being on the air ambulance, her car broke down on the way to Edmonton. When her and Swain arrived, their baby began having seizures.

“When we got there, she was completely out of it. She had 13 wires, two tubes, three monitors on her,” said Coumont.

The parents have been off work since then. They spent three weeks in the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, and another three at the Red Deer hospital.

Coumont says Logan’s diagnosis isn’t good. “They think that she is going to live with severe Cerebral Palsy.”

Coumont says she’s been told the infection has likely done irreparable damage to her daughter’s brain. That could mean extremely limited cognitive function and an inability for Logan to walk or even move on her own.

“When she’s about a year old they assume she’ll go limp, and not be able to lift up her arms, or move her neck or anything,” said Coumont.

Logan’s scheduled to see a neurosurgeon in May to determine if she needs a shunt to help with a fluid buildup around her brain. Otherwise the family says they’ll have to wait until Logan is about a year old to know the full extent of the damage.

The young parents say they’re still hopeful for their baby’s recovery. The trio has been at home together in Red Deer for a little under three weeks, and say they’re seeing progress with Logan.

Family and friends are fundraising to help the parents with bills and expenses through a GoFundMe page. Coumont says they plan to save as much as they can in case there are unexpected expenses that are not covered under their insurance.