About Me
- Name: Ryan
- Location: Athens, Ga, United States
Our son Ryan was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma in 2004. In 2007, my wife Missy was diagnosed with stage 2 triple negative breast cancer. On July 8th, 2009, Missy lost her battle to this horrible disease. 2 days later, on July 10th, Ryan also lost his. Together forever, they both watch over our family now from the heavens above. Below is our families journey through Ryan's treatments, along with the joy and laughter we tried to instill into our daily lives. Those days helped us all cope with the pain and suffering that comes with cancer and it's deadly treatments. Both Missy and Ryan endured high doses of chemo, radiation and surgeries. Over 150 nights spent in the hospital and many, many more days. More transfusions than I could count. Yet both Missy and Ryan took on each day with a positive attitude and warm smile for all their friends. We miss them terribly. They will always be a shining light in our lives.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Was Santa ever good to us!!
Oh My! Santa was so good to all of us! Ryan had such a hard time going to sleep last night. He was so excited. I finally had to lie down with him so he would drift off. I did, too! He was the first one up at our house, of course! He was so excited to see what Santa had brought him. He never even mentioned the miniature horse! He was so busy unwrapping and plugging batteries into things. Thank you to all the Christmas angels that worked so hard to make this a special day for us. We are enjoying our day together. We knotted a special blanket together last night. I've got pictures to post, but can't due to tech. probs. I'll try again later. Merry Christmas, everyone! Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas to all !
It's Christmas eve and all a calm at the Morgan house. Why? because so many people filled Missy's shoes and put together a fantastically easy, joyous, bountiful, memorable, heartfelt, love filled Christmas. For that, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart as there was no way we could have come close to pulling it all together this year. I know Missy says she's feeling good a lot but those are simple snippets of her day. The majority of her day she works harder than she should do try and care for our family the way she is used to doing.Lynn Crow shot the photo above and about 300 more. Hamilton Mill Publix brought the kids a present each and us a gift card. The decorating team that Kristin help put together really lifted us into and kept us in the Christmas mood, that was so important to us. We have had many, many visitors bringing us gifts and good tidings. We are very fortunate to have hundreds of people that care enough to go out of their way to bring joy into our lives. Most of you have been brought into our lives by the angel hallows that surround Missy and Ryan. They are good and caring. Both relish in bringing a smile to the faces of everyone they meet. They are why we have a small army helping our family through the toughest of times.
So Thank you again, one and all, and especially to my Missy and Ryan. With Hope and Belief, Merry Christmas. Les, Missy, Heidi, Will and SuperRyan.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
A Wonderful Holiday Gathering!
Here are a couple of pics from our wonderful visit today with the Howards. I hope you can see Lauren's little baby bump. Isn't she cute? She is so excited about becoming a mommy, and so is the rest of her family. They are such an awesome family how they love each other and support each other. I hope some of Steve and Pat's magical parenting skills rub off on us!
He's counting down the days...
I was surprised last week to see that Ryan already has 60 ornaments on his Lunch for Life Christmas tree. Thanks, Cheryl and Nanny and Granddaddy! I knew it was that time of year again, but I hadn't put anything on his website because so many people have reached out to help us personally these past few months and I'm not about to ask you to do more. You can learn more about Lunch for Life at the link above or to the left, but it raises funds specifically for Neuroblastoma.
Ryan is doing ok. He is so dried out from the Accutane. 2 more days. He finished radiation on Friday. Thank you, Karyn, and all the wonderful women who took care of him. They arranged for Georgia State Patrol officer, Curtis Bradshaw, to meet Ryan and give him a special gift-a football signed by Mark Richt just for Ryan. He loved it and he loved sitting in the patrol car and turning on all the lights! Thank ya'll so very much!
We are looking forward to a visit from our friends, the Howards, tomorrow. It will definitely be a fun time. Thank you for your prayers for Ryan and for me. Please keep praying for a cure for this terrible disease and a cure for all cancers. Pray for all the children fighting, for Jackson and for Joshua, and so many others. Hold your family and friends close and be thankful for everyday. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan
Ryan is doing ok. He is so dried out from the Accutane. 2 more days. He finished radiation on Friday. Thank you, Karyn, and all the wonderful women who took care of him. They arranged for Georgia State Patrol officer, Curtis Bradshaw, to meet Ryan and give him a special gift-a football signed by Mark Richt just for Ryan. He loved it and he loved sitting in the patrol car and turning on all the lights! Thank ya'll so very much!
We are looking forward to a visit from our friends, the Howards, tomorrow. It will definitely be a fun time. Thank you for your prayers for Ryan and for me. Please keep praying for a cure for this terrible disease and a cure for all cancers. Pray for all the children fighting, for Jackson and for Joshua, and so many others. Hold your family and friends close and be thankful for everyday. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
What a great team at Athens Regional!
This is a great group of women who have really made Ryan's 2 weeks of radiation fun and something to look forward to. Thank ya'll so much for making him feel so comfortable and at ease. The other picture is him digging into his stocking they made for him
which is full of toys and candy. He has 2 more days to go, and hasn't slowed down a bit. His lips are pretty dried out from the Accutane. I tried to get a picture of Heidi's Powder-Puff football game tonight, but I was just too far away. It misted rain on and off the whole game, and I was very glad for the game to be finished, even if her team didn't win! Thanks for checking in on Ryan and all of us. Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyanSaturday, December 13, 2008
Here's those pics!
Here's a great picture of the front of the house with the decorations. Doesn't it look like it has a warm, beautiful glow? We added the colored lights across the front. They are a Ryan must-have. We just love pulling up to the front and seeing the lights. The other picture is of the kids' Christmas tree. It has all their hand-made ornaments from over the years and one or two that we buy that signifies something from our year. This year we found the perfect ornament to add to the tree- a yellow taxi cab. It will remind us of our trips to NY (though I'd just like to forget some of it). Ryan is feeling good. His buddy, Matt, spent the night with him last night. It was great to see them playing like usual. He is half-way done with radiation. It seems to be going fabulously. We did a little bit of shopping today. He and Will went home with their buddy, Jackson. We are having some family pictures made tomorrow. Thanks Kristin, for setting this up for us. Thanks for your many prayers for us. Please keep praying for Ryan's cancer to completely go away with this treatment. We love ya'll! Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Feeling good!
Here's Ryan and Dad just relaxing and watching a movie. Just like it should be! We have loved hanging close to home and we have really, really enjoyed our company. Les' cousin Kim and his wife Katherine arrived Saturday night and left this morning. We had a great visit with them, but next time Nick has to come with them! The second picture is Ryan with his finished Star Wars leggo spaceship. He and I had fun putting it together. It was a gift from the girls at radiation. They made him a stocking and he gets to take something out each day. He was so excited about that. Thank ya'll so much. My mom took him for radiation today so I could take a nap. I'm not sure I could have gotten him there without falling asleep at the wheel. We had a 9:00 appt at the Aflac clinic for labs, zometa, and to pick up a new prescription for Accutane. He starts that tomorrow for 2 weeks. The zometa is not a chemo, but a drug to strengthen his bones. His Hgb and wbc were both still good, but platelets were 13k. Please pray for his marrow to make more platelets. It's hard to keep him from being rough. We broke all the rules and ate pizza (thanks, swim team!) in the living room in front of the tv. It's funny how something so simple can get the kids jazzed. Well, thanks for checking in on us. Please pray for the eradication of Ryan's cancer. We'd like to be able to knock out this disease and move into a more preventative phase of treatment. We would love to be able to prevent another relapse like we (hope) we did with his central nervous system. Have a great week! Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyanFriday, December 05, 2008
TGIF
TGIF!! Ryan has had a good week. He isn't going to school right now so we've gotten to spend a lot of time together. I really love the mornings getting to snuggle and not have to go out in the cold. The home school teacher starts next week. We had the radiation simulation today. They aren't used to kids so Ryan is something special (I already knew that!). It went pretty quick and we got a schedule set up for next week. We got labs done at Coach Gary's on Thursday.His wbc is 5.3. I can't remember the last time it was this high. His hgb is 11. Ditto on that. His platelets are only 16k which is typical for him now. Dr. G (and us) is a little worried to start chemo with plts being so low, so we are going to do accutane and zometa. We'll go to the clinic on Tuesday for a 30 minute infusion of the zometa. This drug is given to women with osteoporosis for bone loss. It has shown to work on bony disease. I got the same drug just before Thanksgiving. It can give you flu like symptoms the first time you take it (it did me). We'll also pick up a script for the accutane. We hate how it dries him out, but at least it isn't summertime. We're looking forward to the weekend with everyone at home. The Lighthouse Christmas party is Sunday and we can't wait to see friends old and new. Thanks for checking in on us. Please keep praying for Ryan to feel good and for his cancer to be gone! Love, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will, and SuperRyan
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Identities revealed !
"OPERATION CHRISTMAS"
'Twas a month before Christmas and all through the land
Santa's elves were all busy - faced with a very big plan!
A family needed us - that much was sure
We got word of the Morgan's from our great friends at CURE.
The emails were flying, the internet was quick
The cell phones were ringing, helping everything click.
Less than 48 hours to coordinate the fun
No-one was to busy... no, not even one.
Shopping and planning and thinking things through
There really, really seemed like a lot left to do.
Gently a prodding, a nudge if you will
"Give the project to Me and the needs I will fill".
Dear Father, we prayed, Christmas is all about You
Help us keep that in mind - so important - we knew.
While there at the house there arose such a clatter
Grandma and Grandpa came by to see what was the matter!
It all came together, each piece like a puzzle.
We even had pizza and lemonade to guzzle!
The trees were complete, every wreath with a bow.
We turned to each other - this is really great you know!
Thank You dear Jesus for a family to serve
A Savior to celebrate - much more than we deserve.
Lord bless the sweet Morgan's, protect them we pray.
Watch over them Lord, every night, every day.
May the boxes and bows bring a smile to each face.
Merry Christmas to all - Missy, Les, Ryan, Heidi and Will in this case!
by, Robin Pitts
