On Jan. 8, 2016, Logan Kapadia-Pfob’s mother was driving him to a party when their car was T-boned on the Sherwood Park Freeway. She ended up with a broken ankle. He had ruptured lungs, six broken ribs and a severe brain injury.
“It was really, really horrible until the ambulance came and got us out of the vehicle,” said his mother, Binaifer Kapadia.
READ MORE: East Edmonton crash leaves teenager in critical condition
Logan’s father, Roman Pfob, was minutes away from hitting the stage at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre when he got the call. Police picked up the actor to bring him to his son.
“I was in a police car heading to the hospital going, ‘When is this protocol? When do (police) not let you drive?'” Roman said.
Logan, 15 years old at the time, wasn’t expected to make it. Once doctors confirmed he would survive, no one knew what kind of life he would have.
“(Doctors were) going through the MRIs and seeing something that looks like a World War II bombing map,” Roman recalled. “You can just see damage.”
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“I actually remember waking up from the coma,” Logan told Global News. “I just looked up at my mom and I couldn’t project my voice.”
Logan was a talented singer and musician – the kind of person who could pick up any instrument and play it. The crash had stolen the teen’s ability to speak, eat and move most of his body.
After a month in the Stollery Children’s Hospital, Logan was transferred to the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. He could barely sit up on his own.
“(Logan) was always the kind of patient who would never say no to anything, no matter how hard or terrifying it may have sounded,” recalled physical therapist Vance Pilipchuk.
Pilipchuk and other team members motivated Logan by incorporating music into therapy sessions. They played one of his favourite bands, Slipknot, in the gym and used his drums and guitar to work on fine motor skills.
The teen feels the team’s strategy was effective.
“My life just revolves so much around music… it’s actually hard for me to go for a few minutes without it,” said Logan, now 17.
“Every day he did something amazing, that wasn’t expected,” Binaifer said.
By the end of his three-month stay in the Glenrose, Logan was performing for fellow patients, and inviting them to sing along. He would also help walk others to and from therapies, offering words of encouragement along the way.
“I’d say he helped the rehab path of those kids as well,” Pilipchuk said, “because they had kind of a peer that they could lean on and interact with.”
“I just wanted to… spread the love around,” Logan said.
Glenrose staff will present Logan with an Award of Courage at their annual ceremony on Oct. 2.
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