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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Thomas Hornall & Tim Hanlon

Mum says disabled 13-year-old son can now 'live' again after being allowed vaccine

A mum has said how she can't make her profoundly disabled 13-year-old son "bullet proof" and now being able to have a vaccine allows him to "live".

Donna Quinn's son Logan has serious respiratory problems and a rare neurological condition that means that he is eligible to have the Covid vaccine.

He has been offered a Pfizer vaccine in line with recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

Donna said that it is important for Logan to "start living again".

Donna said that she cannot make Logan "bullet proof" and it is necessary to put her trust in the scientists (PA)

She said: "We've done as much as we can, I can't make him bulletproof, but I can just do as much as I can to move forward and start living again.

"He's about to be 14 next week and I've had to have faith in science and medical experts for him to be alive today.

"I've nearly lost Logan on so many occasions. It was for him to live and experience life and be with friends and family."

Ms Quinn, 48, from Kilsyth, said her son, who had his first dose last Wednesday, has a "very, very weak" chest and lungs and sleeps with a specialist breathing respirator machine at night.

Anne Kelly (l) said her daughter Erin needs to see her friends which the vaccine will makes possible (PA)

Anne Kelly, the mother of 13-year-old Erin, who has epilepsy and cerebral palsy, added that she had been waiting for the clinical advice to recommend vulnerable children for inoculation.

"It was so that we're kind of protecting the kids at the school, she wants to be around her friends. It was always going to be done if there was the option of getting it done," she said.

"The first lockdown was horrible, the wee soul's life just got turned upside down... she needs that routine."

Both children attend the specialist Craighalbert Centre in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, which provides expert integrated therapy and education for children with neurological conditions.

It stayed open three days per week during the lockdowns last year, with group leader Alison Phillips saying the vaccination development is "a welcome step".

She added: "Everything we do is focused on promoting children's wellbeing. We've had all staff double vaccinated, and we encouraged parents to do so as well.

"Parents and staff testing are also doing twice-weekly testing and we have a lot of safeguards in place."

Donna has said it has been very difficult for her to look after Logan as a single parent during the pandemic (PA)

Ms Quinn said that support services she had relied on had been stripped back during the pandemic and that she had had to limit the number of carers coming into the home as she and Logan were shielding.

She added: "It would be very difficult to go through another winter like last year, where we didn't see family, friends, and he wasn't at school.

"I'm a single parent too, I was really worried that if I got ill, then who would be there to look after him?

"My parents are in their 80s and a bit poorly at the moment so we need to be safe for them as well as want to be around them as much as we can.

"I can only do what we can to keep him away from coughs and colds but I also have to be realistic. I can't protect him from everything.

"It just makes more sense for him to be around people and have fun."

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