Husband Decides To Check His Wife's Computer, Then The Unexpected Occurs

Fairy-Tale Beginnings

The couple’s love story was something out of a book of fairytales. They met at a gas station, fell in love and were inseparable. They believed they would be together forever. Then it was time to head off to college…

Enduring Long Distances

Liz had been accepted to a university in California, while Matt chose to study closer to home in Minnesota. The pair braved a long distance relationship, hoping their love would be able to endure the miles between them. After graduating, Matt took on a Master’s degree in Chicago. He was contemplating furthering his studies and gaining a doctorate when he made another life-altering decision.

Matters of the Heart

After so many years apart, Matt decided he couldn’t tolerate the distance any longer. He packed his things, bought a ticket and flew across the country to be with his true love. Matt and Liz traveled the world. Adventuring from one country to another. On the mountain slopes in Nepal, Matt got down on one knee and proposed to Liz.

Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them

On August 13, 2005, Matt and Liz made their way down the aisle. The couple were excited for what the future held, they were newlyweds in love and their professional lives were right on track. Matt was a project manager at Yahoo! and Liz working as a financial executive at Disney. Yet unforeseen could derail their plans.

And Baby Makes Three

Two years later, the elated couple discovered that Liz was pregnant. They were as in love as ever and were ready to welcome a child into the world. Despite their wholesome intentions and best-laid plans, life would soon take a heart-wrenching turn.

Launching a Blog

Their friends and family back in Minnesota were so happy for the young couple. They were good people who only deserved wonderful things. In order to keep their loved ones informed, the couple decided to start a pregnancy blog which would document Liz’z journey to motherhood. The blog featured one of Matt’s favorite images of his wife, beaming down at her swollen belly. The parents-to-be had no idea that soon the picture would become part of an unexpected national media story.

Not the Easiest Pregnancy

Liz could not wait to become a mother but her pregnancy journey was a difficult one. She had severe morning sickness which prompted her doctors to order her to bed rest for weeks on end. Even during the hard times, Matt continued to update the pregnancy blog. He had no idea what his actions would ultimately lead to.

Rushed to the Delivery Room

Seven weeks before Liz was due to give birth she was abruptly rushed to the emergency room. The unplanned delivery was high-risk; the baby was almost two months premature. Liz had to undergo an emergency C-section operation. On March 24, 2008, the Logelin’s lives changed forever.

A Brief Look

After hours of surgery, the couple welcomed their little girl, Madeline (Maddy) Logelin, weighing barely 3 lbs. 14 oz. The new parents were overcome with joy and relief, but their time with their new daughter was short-lived. hospital staff quickly took Maddy to the neonatal intensive care unit. Amidst the excitement, Matt took to the blog to announce the unexpected birth: “Madeline is here!” he wrote to his family and friends.

Waiting to Hold the Little One

After hours of intense labour, Liz could not wait to hold her daughter in her arms. She was eager to look into her child’s eyes but doctors insisted they both needed rest. Just when things appeared to have settled and baby and mother were seemingly doing well, tragedy struck.

A Terrifying Blur

Matt was helping Liz return to bed after visiting the bathroom when she turned to him and said, ‘I feel light-headed.’ His wife collapsed in his arms. Doctors and nurses rushed to Liz’s side, ushering Matt outside of the room. He was left alone, helpless and fearing the worst.

27 Hours After Birth

“Suddenly there’s this ‘code blue,’ people rushing past me,” Matt recalled tearfully. “All of a sudden it hit me,” he told The Guardian in 2011. “She was going to die, today, here in this hospital. And she was never going to hold her baby.” 27 Hours after giving birth to her daughter, doctors confirmed that a fatal blood clot had traveled to Liz’s lungs and caused a pulmonary embolism.

Heartbreak

It took a single day for Matt’s life to change course. He went from loving husband and proud new father to heartbroken widower in mere hours. In a desperate act to let his loved one’s know what had happened to his young wife, Matt wrote a devastated blog post. “Five weeks ago … things were perfect,” he mournfully wrote in the blog entry entitled “Liz.” “On that same day, my world fell apart.”

A Bittersweet Realization

Matt’s world had shattered and he struggled to comprehend the loss he had suffered. The 30-year-old found himself to be a grief-stricken widower and a single parent. He had lost the love of his life but he could not fall apart, he had his daughter to care for. She was all he had and he owed her a big and beautiful life.

Intense Emotions

After burying his wife, Matt rushed from the cemetery to the hospital, to be by his daughter’s side. Maddy had needed time to gain her strength given the nature of her premature birth. After weeks, she was permitted to go home with her Dad. “When I finally got to bring Madeline home for the first time, I felt the house alive again,” shared Matt.

Agonizing Reminders

Matt’s first few weeks of fatherhood were a struggle. He was a new dad with little help who was still mourning the abrupt loss of his wife. Strangers would approach him and his beautiful baby girl in the street, enquiring where her mother was. “She passed away the day after the baby was born,” he’d say.

Coping with Reality

“The hardest thing about being by myself after Liz died was just not having her around me, when she wasn’t here to share in the joys of having our brand new daughter with us.” Still struck by grief and heartache, Matt was resolved in becoming the best father he could be – he wanted to make his wife proud. He started posting questions and updates to an online parenting forum hosted by his local newspaper, The Minnesota Star Tribune.

Extreme Highs and Lows

After months of silence, Matt also reopened his and Liz’s pregnancy blog. He decided to use it as a personal parenting blog, hoping he could find comfort in the process of writing and sharing his journey. Each evening, the single father would write his open-hearted, honest and poignant account of what being a father meant to him. To Matt’s genuine surprise, the writing changed his life. He found solace in writing and often found support in the parents who read his blog entires.

A Transformative Process

“I have great memories of Liz and I can tell her all about these things. Some minutes, I am extremely happy and there are other minutes when I am so down I don’t know what to do. That’s what I try to convey through the blog,” he shared. Before long, the blog transformed into something that would have a life-long effect on his and his daughter’s life.

An Overwhelming Response

Matt thought the blog, now called “Matt, Liz and Madeline: Life and Death, All in a 27-Hour Period,” would act as a virtual scrapbook for Madeline when she grew up. But the Matt’s blog became an unexpected Internet phenomenon. Matt was receiving useful advice, support and encouragement from parents around the world. He had created a space for parents who had experienced similar losses to share their touching stories. In addition, the forum was attracting tens of thousands of page views a day and about 1 million to 1.5 million visitors per month.

Easing the Pain

Out of the tragedy and horror of Liz’s death, something truly inspirational had arisen. Matt, Liz and Maddy’s story had touched the lives of millions. Complete strangers from all sides of the world were able to love and support one another from afar, sharing in their communal battles and triumphs. The blog’s popularity helped Matt to heal, while raising his daughter.

Unimaginable Care

Matt received more than emotional support from his many followers. He got sent toys, diaper bags, formula dividers and clothes for his baby girl. “I never imagined that people would care about us the way they do,” he said. With the help of some of his regular readers and contributors, Matt set up a charity organization in Liz’s name. The organization would become a force to be reckoned with.

The Liz Logelin Foundation

Run by a group of dedicated volunteers, the Liz Logelin Foundation organized fundraising events like community walks and runs in Matt’s late wife’s memory. A single event raised $4,400 that was intended to go to Matt and Maddy. However, Matt envisioned a different way to honor his loving wife’s memory. “Matt asked me if it was OK if he gave away all the money that had been raised for him and Madeline to the widows and widowers he had met through his blog,” recalled the foundation’s co-executive, Rachel Engebretson. “They didn’t have the same network of support and he wanted to help them.”

A Love Letter

As time moved on, Matt was struck by how much Maddy came to resemble her mother. Although his blogging had been a way to cope with the loss of Liz, it now served a greater purpose. “In many ways, it’s a love letter to Madeline and to Liz,” he said. “Liz will never read it, of course, I want Madeline to know that her dad didn’t just curl up in a ball and start drinking heavily. I want her to know I was out there, doing as much as I could for her, and trying to make her as happy as I could.” Although he didn’t intend to keep the blog running forever, the nature of his work would soon change.

The Year Milestone

The blog’s worldwide popularity soon offered Matt a wealth of career opportunities and possibilities. Matt and Maddie were now also invested in helping other parents and children in similar positions. The father-daughter duo would soon set out to forge a new path that would further change their lives.

Going Full Circle

In 2009, Matt made the decision to leave his job and pursue a new career. With Maddy by his side, the pair traveled to India where Matt wanted to take time off to write a memoir of his incredible journey. Matt and Liz had traveled to India a year after their wedding so the trip held special meaning for Matt and Maddy. Matt wrote his memoir entitled Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love. The book became an New York Times bestseller, and there was more good fortune to come.

Another Chance at Love

The same year that Matt’s book was published, was also the year when Matt would find love again. The single dad and author started dating Brooke Gullikson, who volunteered at the Liz Logelin Foundation. The two had met the previous year at one of the organization’s fundraisers. Brooke later said that she knew instantly that Matt was the one for her. After such loss and heartbreak, Matt had once again found companionship.

The Word Got Out

Brooke eventually made the move from Minnesota to Los Angeles to be with Matt and Maddy. Matt felt conflicted, and decided to take to the blog to explain the turn of events. He wrote; “But even in my darkest … moments there has been happiness and with Brooke now in our lives, there’s even more happiness.” Matt initially wanted to keep the relationship low-profile but word soon got out. Despite Matt’s newfound happiness, not everyone was thrilled to hear the news. Some of his blog readers were critical and accused Matt of having “swept Liz under the carpet.”

Going Their Separate Ways

Brooke later conducted an interview with Parenting.com in which she opened up about her struggles with the online criticism of her new relationship. By 2013, sadly, the romance between Matt and Brooke had faded. Matt then took to his Facebook page to announce the separation in a now-deleted post. Despite the new heartbreak, life had more in store for Matt.

A New Romance?

After the relationship ended, Matt took time out to focus on being alone and spending time with Maddy. After only a few months rumors began to swirl that the single dad was involved with Lizzie Molyneux, a writer for the popular animated series Bob’s Burgers. The couple seemed to confirm the news when they attended a benefit comedy show for The Liz Logelin Foundation in 2016. Inquisitive fans of Matt’s blog soon discovered something wonderful…

A Secret Ceremony

Matt and Lizzie Molyneux had avoided public scrutiny by keeping their romance largely under wraps. Despite the secrecy, fans uncovered a wedding website for the couple. The pair had wed in a secret ceremony in Palm Springs, California in February 2018. While Matt is more discreet about his private life these days, there was one A-lister who caught wind of the happy news…

On-Screen Adaptation

Back in 2012, the Lifetime network had briefly considered making a screen adaptation of Matt’s touching memoir The Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love. Despite the initial interest, the intended plans to have famed writer Marta Kauffman at the head of the TV movie project didn’t materialize.

Within the industry, word began to circulate that the famous leading man Channing Tatum was planning to take on a big-budget Hollywood film adaptation of the book. It’s been speculated that the actor will act as the executive producer of the adaptation and might even star as Matt in the pending father-daughter drama. So where does this leave Matt and Maddy today?

The Long Process

It has been a long and challenging road for Matt. He has experienced soaring highs and devastating lows but the now-married father to Maddy is now happy and at peace with the loss of his first wife. He is a frequent as a guest speaker at grief and widowhood summits and works as a guest-columnist for Glamour magazine. What about little Maddy?

Maddy Today

Maddy turned 10 years old on March 24, 2018. The meaningful date was more than just a birthday for the little girl, it also marked 10 years since the tragic passing of her mother. Despite the tragic start to her upbringing, Maddy has been raised with the love and support of so many.

Moving Forward Without Forgetting

Maddy has had many questions about her Mom over the years. “Daddy, did you hold my mommy’s hand when she died?” she innocently asked one day. Matt has always tried his very best to explain the hardships of Liz’s passing to his young daughter “but what I said will never take away what happened that day,” he has shared. This is a story that truly reveals the strength of a father’s love and the transformative nature of true compassion.