Morgan had a 5% chance of survival after being diagnosed with cancer when she was a junior in high school. An experimental treatment saved her life.
Morgan was 15 years old when a mass the size of a softball was found low in her pelvic cavity. Here’s what Morgan has to say about her cancer diagnosis:
“On February 1, 2005, I became one of the 43 kids diagnosed with cancer.
I was diagnosed with metastatic alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. I was 15 years old.
I was told this cancer had no treatment plan and therefore my roadmap was determined by putting my age, gender, type of cancer, and stage of progression into an application that would develop a random treatment. The chemotherapy, along with the highest radiation possible, devastated my body.
My doctors told me I would most likely not see my 16th birthday…and certainly not Christmas. There were times that I didn’t think I could go on and simply wanted to give up.”
Morgan had stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, an extremely rare pediatric cancer. She was treated with 42 rounds of an experimental chemotherapy and 6 weeks of radiation. Morgan was in remission for 6 months before the cancer returned, requiring chemotherapy for an additional 50 weeks and more radiation.
Today, Morgan is doing great! She is happily married and will celebrate her 31st birthday this year! She enjoys being with her family and traveling as much as she can.
While she was a teenager in treatment, better days didn’t seem possible.
Morgan says, “It has been almost 15 years since my diagnosis and not a day goes by that I can’t help but feel beyond blessed for each better day I’ve been given. No child deserves to have to be given a cancer diagnosis, but since there is no cure yet, it is important to keep funding research for the kids who need better days.”
Every kid deserves better days. Help fund research to find cures for kids’ cancer!
