Mom Goes To Hardware Store To Buy Parts For Son's Walker, They Ask Her To Come Back In An Hour

Sep 24, 2021

In this story from 2019, 2-year-old Logan and his dad, Justin Moore, started their visit to Home Depot in Cedartown, Georgia, like any other. But Logan captured service desk manager Cathy Ennsley's heart. And when she found out why Justin wanted the parts on his shopping list, she knew she had to help.

While the father and son went off for one hour, thinking the staff was getting the parts out of storage for them, the workers at Home Depot were busy building Logan his own walker!

Logan was born with hypotonia or “floppy infant syndrome.” The disease causes low muscle tone and reduced strength. For older children, it's treatable with physical therapy. But for infants and toddlers, parents are pretty much on their own to help their babies become strong enough to move around.

Logan's father, Justin Moore, and his mom, Christian Moore, noticed something was wrong when Logan was just a few weeks old. He wasn't as active as other babies his age, and he couldn't lift his head. When he was ready to roll over, he couldn't do that either. Sitting up was also impossible at first. When Logan was ready to walk, he got leg braces. They weren't enough, however; what he really needed was a walker. But the insurance company wouldn't pay for it, and Justin and Christian couldn't afford it on their own.

Like most people who are stuck for an answer, Justin went online to try to find out how to build a toddler-sized walker. It took some digging, but he found what he needed. Then, armed with plans and a list of the parts he'd need, he and Logan went to Home Depot.

According to Fox 46, their first stop at Home Depot was the service desk, where Justin asked Ennsley if the store had everything he needed. Curiosity got the best of her, and she asked what he was going to do with the items on his list. Meanwhile, she was falling in love with Logan and his radiant smile. When Justin told her he wanted to build a walker for his son — even though he could barely afford it — she knew exactly what she wanted to do.

“I do have a special needs daughter, everybody involved with it has a medically needy child,” Ennsley told Fox 46.

She said she needed to ask the store manager if they had the parts and asked Justin and Logan to wait at the desk. She went off, plans in hand, to talk with the manager. But she didn't want to ask about the parts. She knew the store had them. She had something else in mind. When she returned a few minutes later, she told Justin some of the parts might be in storage. If he and Logan came back in an hour, everything would be ready for them.

“I figured out we had everything thing we needed I told them to go get ice cream and come back in an hour and we’d have it built for them and they were kind of blown away,” said the store’s manager, Joe Ritchie.

While Justin and Logan were down the street eating ice cream, the store manager and some employees were hard at work building the best surprise ever.

When Justin and Logan got back to the store, they found a fully-constructed bright orange, toddler-sized walker. It even had Logan's name on it.

“We were just shocked that they would do that for us…because you don’t see a lot of that generosity these days,” Christian told Fox 46.

“Logan really needed it. He’s been trying to walk a lot more with that thing and we’re really thankful,” Justin added.

As Logan took his first steps, he was smiling from ear to ear. Jeff Anderson, one of the men who helped make the walker, told CNN:

"Everyone was crying to see Logan walk around with the biggest smile on his face."

Anderson then thanked everyone that helped “for being a blessing to this family and to this little guy."

Sometimes, the greatest acts of kindness come from people you don't know, total strangers whose paths just happen to cross yours. But Justin and Logan will always remember Cathy and her coworkers, who turned an ordinary shopping trip into an amazing, wonderful day.

What’s more, Logan’s story has also touched viewers on YouTube from around the world.

“Bless him that is a blessing...Makes me want to believe there is hope for the human race....still people out there with hearts,” Angie Parker commented on the below YouTube video.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS),  hypotonia is a life-long condition that Logan will likely have to deal with even as he gets older. The NINDS notes that patients’ muscle tone can improve over time, however.

What do you think about what these employees did for Logan? Have you ever heard of hypotonia? Let us know, and be sure to pass this positive story on to others!