Feels like two days, but also feels like two years. We are up and down, having good days and bad. We miss our girl. The broken hole seems to grow deeper. We are well taken care of, but will never be complete again.
No back to school pics this year. All I have is a pic from last year. This year would have been her senior year. All she wanted was to go to school, to hang out with her friends, to live her life. This world has lost much in losing this sparkly, sweet soul.
Four weeks since I held your hand, four weeks since I’ve heard you speak, four weeks since my heart split in two. I miss you.
Crying for you, and laughing for you, I promised you we would be okay, I’ll continue to make that my mission in life. Love you, baby girl. 💛
A Celebration of Life will be held for our Sparklyflower on July 12, 2020, 7pm at the Florida Strawberry Festival Grimes Building in Plant City, Florida. All are welcome to attend, with masks. We are required to social distance. We want to celebrate Morgan’s bright spirit: please dress in the colors of the rainbow.
We have a few ways to show your love for Morgan:
Send us a story, memory, or picture you have with our sweet girl to: elpierce.79@gmail.com We will read as many as time allows at the Celebration.
White paper bags for luminaries will be available to decorate and write messages at the front doors on the evening of the Celebration. If you would like to do this before the service you can pick up and/or send them to: 2910 Forest Hammock Dr., Plant City, FL, 33566.
Tonight, we are bringing Morgan home. It was a beautiful service for her here in Charleston, we appreciate all the love and support we’ve felt while here. Morgan is loved by so many, we want to honor her life and the continued impact she will make as we all carry on her memory.
We are planning a celebration of life on or around July 12th. Details are still in the works, I will post here when we know more.
This picture is of the Ravenel Bridge, a bridge we could see every trip into and out of Charleston, when our family would come support Morgan is her role of helping to raise funds for neuroblastoma research. She painted an acrylic of this bridge for an auction item the last year she was here.
Thank you for all of your thoughts and we’ll wishes.
Morgan Pierce passed away on June 25, 2020 at 1:36 p.m. in Charleston, South Carolina at the age of 17. She was not at home, but as fate would have it, she died at the very hospital she spent years raising money to help find a cure for Neuroblastoma, MUSC Children’s Hospital. Morgan and her family were traveling from New York City back home to Tampa, Florida when she started having complications in Florence, SC. She was airlifted to MUSC where she passed away. The family is staying here in Charleston until Morgan is able to go home with them, which will probably be late next week. Morgan touched so many lives in Tampa, New York and Charleston.
A private service will be held tomorrow 6/28 in Charleston. A celebration of Morgan’s life open to all will be held in Plant City, Florida, and NYC at a later date. Information will be posted on www.sparklyflower.org.
Our daughter was strong, stronger and more resilient than anyone we have ever known, she was proud, outspoken and unapologetic for her feelings. Morgan touched so many lives, there is no possible way to keep count, in her 17 years of life and nearly 13 years of non stop cancer treatment she defied all the odds time after time working harder than everyone else just to live. She advocated on behalf of others even when it was uncomfortable and sometimes even painful. Morgan was simply unstoppable with her fierce spirit, she was full of life and had no intentions of EVER quitting despite being so tired. Yesterday 6-25-2020 in Charleston SC at 1:36pm her body just could not keep up with her spirit, we were with her letting her know just how loved she is. Words can never express how thankful we are for the love and support our family, friends and community through the years.
Morgan has been in NYC for a few weeks getting some scans and looking at options. Her scans were worse than before, the disease is extensive in her bones and bone marrow. She’s been dealing with increased pain, and general fatigue. I haven’t updated because I feel there is so much to say with no good way to say it. Dr Modak let us know that, due to her falling blood counts, he doesn’t have many treatment options to offer Morgan.
We have decided in addition to repeating the treatment she received in February, Morgan will get some chemo this week, then receive her last bag of stem cells as a ‘rescue’ for her bone marrow next week. We hope the treatment will lessen her pain, and we hope the stem cells will take hold in her marrow, growing into the blood cells she needs.
This is a tough road, it always has been. We have been doing this a long time: twelve years of constant treatment develops into a lifestyle, a chronic disease finding it’s way into a normal life. I know it is sad to read, it is sad to think about. This is our life every day! We are sad, we are mad, but most importantly, we are convicted. We follow Morgan’s lead, this is her story, we love her and support her through everything she chooses to do. With that comes all of the emotions you could imagine, and some you couldn’t. But, I want you to understand: WE DON’T LIVE THERE. Fear, anger, and sadness do not take up residence in our hearts and our minds. What would be the point of all this?
We experience those emotions and then let that shit go.
We live in love, and fun experiences, debates about politics, learning about new things, being together, and sometimes tears, but always living. Moving forward, whatever that looks like at this moment, and then the next. None of us know what tomorrow will bring. Morgan chooses, we choose to live in the moment, making the best decisions we can with the information we have, and unapologetically live life.
As unusual as this life is, we are like everyone else. We love having friends text about the weather, spending time with those who make us laugh, hearing about others hardships because, we want to help others, too.
Please don’t be afraid to text us: we aren’t going to break under the pressure of a friendly message😊.
We so very much appreciate the support we have received; our village is strong, and we are thankful for our friends and family now that we need them more than ever.
I have so much to say but not the right words to express my thoughts, so I will stick with the basics because I know so many people care about Morgan and are genuinely concerned about her well being.
We are in NYC for scans this week. It is safe here, everyone is masked, washing hands, and keeping distance.
Morgan presented with more pain a little over a week ago, and her blood counts are struggling to return to normal.
Please send positive thoughts, well wishes, and most importantly, prayers for her physical comfort, her mental health as she deals with a relentless disease that won’t loosen it’s grip on her, and for a good outcome here in NYC.
We continue to support her needs, and out family has been well supported by family and friends.
Thanks for caring about our girl.
Five days of chemo, four hospital rooms, three oncologists, two tired parents, one (mostly) pain free patient!Morgan broke free today from a very long stay impatient in St Pete. She had so much pain three weeks ago, and has been through so much, more than I could describe today.
Grateful for prayers, thankful for support of friends and family, appreciative of amazing nurses.
No plans for now other than home and rest.
An experience we won’t soon forget, Morgan tested negative for COVID. We are so relieved. She returned to the regular oncology floor Saturday, fighting pneumonia with no white blood cells: we hope her stem cells will soon grow into new white blood cells and help her heal. The team of providers are steadily working to help her overcome this new hurdle and feel better quickly. She is tired and hurting from coughing fits. Pneumonia is a struggle to manage in an otherwise healthy person, this will be a much longer, more difficult road for Morgan.
We spent Easter the same way we have spent the last two weeks: separated. Due to COVID, only one caregiver is allowed to be with Morgan in the hospital. We have to change shifts at the security desk. One daughter quarantined at home, one daughter quarantined in the hospital, we do our best to go back and forth, chatting for a few minutes with each other (and the security guard) at shift change. We would continue indefinitely if it means getting Morgan through this battle. We continue to follow her lead and support her with every ounce of energy we can muster. Although we are all sick of being stuck at home, this is a path we are accustomed to following. Cancer families know the drill: wash your hands, cover your cough, stay away from sick people, stay home when counts are low. Avoiding restaurants and grocery stores are common when your kid is in treatment, and screening friends and family is a regular thing. We joke that this is the time we’ve prepared for the last twelve years! If anyone knows how to quarantine, it’s a cancer family!
If her counts recover this week/weekend, she may be able to go home next week. She is ready to get back in the kitchen and quarantine!
Sparklyflower 