Like many school children in 2020, Morgan was navigating her freshman year at North Hunterdon High School amid a pandemic, where she found school being shut down in March and going virtual. Her hope was that her sophomore year would be back to normal however that was not to be the case. On September 9, 2020 Morgan was having toothaches common with wisdom teeth coming in. She developed a 102.4 fever while on the antibiotics so on September 19, 2020, her mother took her to St. Peter’s Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ.
The next day Morgan and her mother were given devastating news that Morgan had some form of Leukemia and was admitted to Robert Wood Johnson’s Children’s Hospital in New Brunswick where further testing showed she had Acute Myeloid Leukemia. At the age of 15 she had the adult form of AML; not the pediatric form. The chances of survival from this form of Leukemia were grim. While at RWJ Hospital, Morgan received Chemotherapy treatment which did come with side effects. She lost her hair for the very first time, which for a teenager, that is a traumatic experience. On top of all of the treatment and side effects, Morgan was isolated on a hospital room floor with other kids battling cancer due to Covid 19 restrictions. Her parents were the only ones who could come into her room and be with her.
Morgan was able to come home right before Christmas to spend time with her family and she received a warm welcome from her community. Morgan was later transferred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and was scheduled for Transplant in April of 2021, but that came with major setbacks. She had contracted Covid-19 while at home, which pushed her transplant to May 12, 2021. It was during this time that the wonderful doctors at CHoP found a secondary form of Leukemia. This required an alteration in her treatment plan. All five of her siblings got tested to be donors and the family was stunned to find out that all five siblings were a perfect match to be her donor! The chances of finding one sibling to match was 25%! Just prior to transplant, Morgan had to undergo a very intense chemotherapy treatment and radiation. Morgan received countless blood and platelet donations, she experienced the loss of appetite, loss of taste and smell, and she endured countless headaches.
With the transplant date approaching, it was decided that her next oldest sibling, Ian would be her bone marrow donor. Ian would be the one to give his little sister the greatest gift of all, the gift of LIFE! Ian was willing to sacrifice his wrestling career so that he could give his sister what she needed to survive. May 12, 2021, he started the transplant procedure and ended it with taking his bone marrow donation and personally bringing it to Morgan, who was waiting in her hospital room. At that moment, Ian and Morgan shared a period of time together that they will always remember for the rest of their lives. Morgan went through a period of time where her liver was not functioning properly and a drain was inserted and the liver function was corrected. Morgan went through testing to see how her brother, Ian’s bone marrow was taking. Within a month’s time, his bone marrow had engrafted 100%! Usually that number is at 80%. Morgan continues to show no trace of both forms of Leukemia and is now residing at Ronald McDonald House of Philadelphia. She returns to the hospital weekly for testing and eventually the doctor visits will be less and less. Currently, Morgan is hoping to return home to Franklin Township, Hunterdon County between the end of July to mid-August. What most people do not realize is the aftercare that takes place one Morgan returns home. The Hewitt home will be transformed into a medical environment where Morgan will be isolated for an extended period of time.
In the end though, Morgan can count herself as a warrior who battled and beat two forms of Leukemia! She is a survivor, and she was given that fighting chance by her brother, Ian. Morgan and her family have endured so much over this past year and hopefully when Morgan’s journey is finished, they can be together as a family and spend quality time loving, laughing and living. There will be ongoing medical expenses and challenges for them as a family, but they have weathered the worst of the storm. Nothing can keep them down!