Northampton six-year-old ‘kidney superhero’ to cycle 850 miles to help others with similar health conditions

A young Northampton boy who has spent much of his life battling kidney problems is now on a mission to help others by raising money for Kidney Research UK.

Logan Parsi, from Kingsley, was born with hydronephrosis - a swelling in the kidney - as well as a blockage in his left ureter tube, which caused damage to his kidney.

Neither of the issues were detected or diagnosed until Logan was older, following urine infections that kept coming back and many scans.

The now six-year-old spent Christmas 2019 in hospital recovering from an operation to remove the blockage, which has caused damage to his kidney.

Following the operation, Logan was fitted with a stent to help with flow around the kidney, which meant he was unable to do much physical activity for nearly a year.

For someone who loves bikes and motorbikes, this was hard, but now that Logan’s stent has been removed, he has pledged to cycle 850 miles in 2021 to represent the 850 million people worldwide living with kidney disease.

Jade Reid, Logan’s mum, said: “He is fit and healthy now, but has to go back for regular scans.

“We have been told that he will be in remission for five years and that his condition might deteriorate when he is an adult, but for now a kidney transplant is not needed.

“Logan has taken it all in his stride and he sees the good side of it all.

“We read a story online that makes them seem like kidney superheroes so that’s what he thinks he is and he has his kidney superhero scar, which he shows off.”

Logan and his family did a fundraiser for Kidney Research UK last year and when Jade was reminded about this via Facebook memories, Logan asked if they could do another this year.

When Jade looked through ideas of what they could do, Logan saw a cycling challenge and immediately said that is what he wanted to do.

Cycling for 850 minutes was suggested, but Logan wanted to do ‘the biggest challenge’ so he could be ‘on his bike for the longest time’.

Jade added: “Logan has not made it back onto a motorbike yet, but he has got back on his push bike and he is so happy to be doing that.

“He has his beanie hat and T-shirt and keeps asking us to go out to get more miles in.

“Logan is also really proud of his JustGiving page. Every time he gets a donation he dances around the living room.

“To give money to put back into the charity is really important to us, especially as it got to a point where we wanted to go ahead with Logan’s operation so we looked into paying for it privately, but we couldn’t afford it.”

Alongside his mum, dad - Lucan, sister - Renesmae and cousin - Harrison Jolley, Logan has clocked up around 30 miles.

The mammoth challenge will continue throughout the year and the team hopes to raise as much money as possible for the charity.

To donate to Logan’s challenge, visit his JustGiving page here.

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