Eagles Announce Recipient of 2024 Pot of Gold Fundraiser
Feb 27, 2024
WINDSOR, CO. – The Colorado Eagles are excited to announce the team’s annual “Pot of Gold” fundraiser, in which the Eagles will be raising funds for 14-year-old Cooper Logan of Timnath, who also serves as the Eagles pregame DJ, “DJ Lil Coop”. The event will take place during the Eagles game against the Calgary Wranglers on Saturday, March 16th at Blue Arena.
Fans in attendance will have the opportunity to bid on specially designed St. Patrick’s Day jerseys worn by the Eagles players during the game. The silent auction will be held via the DASH auction app from Monday, March 11th through Saturday, March 16th. All money raised from the auction will go directly to the Logan family and the Kawasaki Kids Foundation.
A limited number of replica Pot of Gold jerseys will be sold beginning March 14th, online and at The Official Team Store at Centerra to help support the cause. Pot of Gold t-shirts, pucks and stickers will go on sale beginning Friday, March 15th, and hats and beanies beginning on Saturday, March 16th so that fans can gear up for one of the most fun nights of the year!
Since its inception in 2012, the Pot of Gold Fundraiser has raised over $600,000 for families suffering financial hardship due to the medical condition of a child. “The Pot of Gold recipient’s story always finds us, and it seemed fitting after hearing of Cooper’s struggles that Eagles Country could help in a profound way with him being our 11th Pot of Gold Recipient,” said Eagles President Ryan Bach.
WATCH COOPER'S VIDEO HERE
Cooper became sick when he was just three years old and was taken to the hospital where it was decided he had suffered appendicitis and emergency surgery was performed to take out his appendix. Following his discharge, Cooper’s health continued to deteriorate. He returned to the hospital where his condition grew worse over the next few days, with no additional diagnosis. After nine days in the hospital and no plan on saving him, he was transferred to Children's Hospital Denver. Four days later, his family received the news that he was diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease (KD) and unfortunately, he was left with a coronary aneurysm.
Kawasaki Disease has a vital 10-day window to be diagnosed and treated to have a chance to save the heart. KD is inflammation in the heart blood vessels and is the leading cause of heart disease in children 0-5 years of age.
Cooper was in and out of the hospital almost every other week for a year and a half, with the situation becoming even more serious on a family vacation when Cooper was in danger of bleeding internally. Following this stint in the hospital he was diagnosed with Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrom (aHUS) and that disease left him with stage-3 kidney failure. For the next 10 years he battled a giant coronary aneurysm and kidney failure until February 2023 when Cooper landed in the hospital with pneumonia. They realized the kidneys had totally shut down and he stayed in the hospital for over a month, eventually going on dialysis and waiting to be placed on the kidney transplant list.
Good news arrived this winter, as Cooper is currently off dialysis and awaiting a kidney transplant on April 5th from a Colorado donor. Cooper will spend few weeks in ICU post-transplant and then should be able to return home to recover.
Cooper is currently on one of the most expensive medications ever. He has an infusion every eight weeks that costs $100,000 per infusion to keep the aHUS from coming back and killing the new kidney. Cooper will need to continue these infusions every eight weeks for the rest of his life. He will still have the giant aneurysm, so bypass heart surgery will be likely in the near future. Cooper is a fighter with the best of spirits and a passion for DJ'ing for the Colorado Eagles, plus is an up-and-coming high school cornhole player.
The Logan family founded the Kawasaki Kids Foundation 10 years ago after Cooper was diagnosed with KD. As of today, the foundation has saved 171 children due to early diagnosis and treatment, all from the education and awareness they perform every day in communities across the country. These 171 precious little hearts were all caught in time and left with no heart issues. The Logan Family and the Kawasaki Kids Foundation couldn't do this work in our community without the generosity of so many amazing local businesses and supporters.
Blue Federal Credit Union is stepping up the fun with a commemorative Pot of Gold stein glass giveaway to the first 1,500 fans in attendance ages 16 and older.
Subaru of Loveland is supporting the cause by donating a portion of Subaru sales through the event. They are also making an additional donation during the game on the 16th for all Chuck-A-Pucks that land inside the sunroof of the Subaru on the ice during the intermission “Chuck-A-Puck” promotion.
In addition to the silent auction of the themed Eagles jerseys that have been supported by Lucky Joe’s in Old Town Ft. Collins, and with the help of the Larimer and Weld County Sheriff’s departments, donations will be collected during the game for anyone who would like to help Cooper and his family’s cause.
The annual St. Patrick’s themed evening will also feature green Coors Light 12oz drafts for $5 throughout the game, Irish step dancing, Irish Musical performances, in addition to the Irish-themed jerseys, complete with a unique Celtic logo and the initials of the previous recipients of the “Pot of Gold.”
Donations to support Cooper can be made now and anytime by visiting this GoFundMe link.
Cooper's video can be seen here.
