My incestuous mother got pregnant by me when I was TEN... what happened to our child was even worse
- GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING
A victim of incest who was raped by his own mother when he was just 10, resulting in the birth of a baby, has revealed harrowing details about his brother who is also his son.
Logan Gifford, 26, says the boy, now 16, has major motor issues that make movement difficult, meaning he only learned how to to tie his shoes on his own in the last year.
'Early on, it was intensive,' Gifford said of his brother's disability. 'He had stints that he needed help walking.
'The biggest challenge for him right now is motor functions and hand-eye coordination and movement. He just turned 16 and, to put it into perspective, he just finally learned how to tie his shoes by himself.'
Gifford added: 'He's been put into this generic box of SLD [Specific Learning Disability]... but it's just a generic tag. It doesn't really go into specifics. And that's detrimental because he's entitled to those services and coming up with a proper diagnosis is clearly critical in that aspect.'
Gifford's brother was born after his mother Doreene Gifford got pregnant while raping her son when he was 10. The rapes continued for six years.
Doreene was later jailed for the sexual abuse of her son and put on the sex offenders' register.
Gifford has since filed a paternity suit to establish that he is indeed his brother's father.
Logan Gifford, bottom right, was raped by his mother Doreene, center, between the ages of 10 and 16. She gave birth to a baby son (pixelated) who a judge later ruled was Gifford's child
Gifford, pictured in July, told the Daily Mail about the severe disabilities his brother suffers from. He fears those issues are because the boy was conceived through incest
DNA testing said there is a 99.9 percent chance that either he - or his father Theodore - is the boy's dad.
Theodore is estranged from Gifford and has refused to comply. Doreene insists Theodore is the boy's dad, not Gifford.
Further DNA testing to definitively establish the boy's parentage would cost thousands.
Gifford has created a GoFundMe to help pay for it, with a judge declaring Gifford the youngster's father anyway last week.
Explaining how he'd broken the news to his sibling, Gifford told the Daily Mail: 'I put it in a language or a vernacular that's familiar to him and he understood why why a DNA test was needed to get that clarity.
'I explained it to him that there was a probability that I was [his father], and there was a probability that I wasn't. And he's fully aware of it.'
Gifford says he is troubled by the prospect that his brother's disabilities are the result of being born of incest. Children conceived by close relatives are at a much higher risk of severe health issues.
'I'm grieving this every single day as a private person because we still don't know if I'm the reason why he's disabled or not,' an emotional Gifford said.
Gifford is pictured with his mother and brother. His mother Doreene spent just 10 years in prison for raping her underage son
'This was always about [my brother's] well-being, because he didn't ask to be born this way,' Gifford said as he explained that discovering whether his brother is a product of incest would help better diagnose his disability.
'He didn't choose to be born with disabilities and, you know, that's something that he has to face every day. And it was unfortunate that for a long time, both of my parents were standing in the way of that. And it a disservice to the child and the child did nothing wrong.'
Gifford says the abuse began in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election.
Recalling the evening of the first assault, he said: 'I remember because I was sitting there and we just did the little mock election on who was going to win, Barack Obama or Senator McCain. I was attending Red Rock Elementary School and it happened for the first time,' Gifford said of the first time his mother abused him, when he was in the fifth grade.
Gifford went to authorities at the age of 16.
Doreene subsequently entered an Alford plea to the sexual abuse of her son.
That sees a defendant concede that there is enough evidence to convict them.
Gifford, pictured in a recent mugshot, broke the terms of her parole by contacting her son after her release to ask for his help in applying for government benefits
She was sentenced to eight to 20 years behind bars but was released after just 10 years.
Doreene violated her parole earlier this year by contacting Gifford to ask him to help her apply for government assistance.
'Her sister contacted me when she got out of prison,' Gifford said. 'They were trying to see if I had any desire in helping her get her Social Security check back. And, you know, I didn't welcome that sort of contact.'
Gifford said he reported the parole violation and Doreene was arrested on January 7th and released shortly after as a result.
He said he is upset by the short length of the sentence she served for carrying out the horrific sex crime against him.
'When I first came out against her, she was facing 12 life sentences. That's L-I-F-E. No numbers. Just letters. And the fact that she pledged all the way down to 20. I mean, and she didn't even serve the maximums ridiculous,' Gifford said.
Despite his troubled childhood, Gifford rebuilt his life to become a political operative in Nevada - including working for Governor Joe Lombardo.
He is married and has his first child on the way, and told the Daily Mail his younger brother is thriving under his care.
Gifford with his father Theodore. The two are estranged, with Theodore refusing to help prove Logan's brother is also his son
But Gifford added that he still struggles dealing with the emotional trauma he experienced as a kid.
'It doesn't get easier. You just get better with dealing with it,' Gifford said as he broke down.
He explained: 'I've won 38 elections in my career or had some role in 38 electoral victories in this state. I've helped close the gap between Democrats and Republicans by nearly 20,000 voter registrations during my time there with the Nevada Republican Party. I've worked on four presidential campaigns in my lifetime and I still have nightmares.
'I didn't have a choice in any of this. I didn't want the responsibility. I didn't ask for it. But it fell in my hands. I would love to have my own agency. But at the same time, because of choices of other people, I've had to become more of a prolific role in my brother's life. And I'm not ashamed of that. In fact, I don't mind it. But the problem is, is that we need to do better.'
Gifford said that he has received no community or government support in order to get answers for his brother, and he is speaking out in order to shine a light on an issue that is not rare.
'No law enforcement agency has offered to help with the DNA analysis. No [charity] has ever called my phone That's sad,' Gifford shared.
'My frustration currently is that we need to talk about it. In cases of incest there should be mandatory genetic testing, because my case was that bad and it got brought forward and they didn't think to do it back then.
'It could have avoided a lot of this. So we need to start treating this differently and being honest about biology.'
Gifford pictured as a boy. He says his mother's first rape happened around the time of the 2008 presidential election
Despite the trauma he has suffered, Gifford rebuilt his life and is a successful political consultant
Gifford is pictured with his brother, who he continues to care for
He said he is also speaking about his story because the public still does not understand that men can be victims of sexual abuse too.
'Western society is struggling with the fact that a male can be sexually assaulted. Yes, he could not like it and still have an erection,' Gifford explained.
'Yes, men are victims too. And we need to have an honest conversation about it... But some people have asked, well, "did a 10-year-old, you know, ejaculate? And I said, well, if a girl started her period at nine, would you deny it?
'So I'm a male, and now you're asking if puberty or pubescence can be accelerated? Of course it can. My household was unfortunately hypersexualized. And both of my parents were victims of sexual abuse from their families.
'But the buck has to stop with someone. You know, it takes a backbone. So I want to not perpetuate this for generations.'
