Spaghetti dinner benefit to support teen with cancer
Josh Morgan, 18, in hospice program
A Shepherd family will be raising money, through a spaghetti dinner fundraiser, to cover expenses after their 18-year-old son was diagnosed with brain cancer.
The spaghetti dinner will occur on Monday, April 5 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Eight 2 Eight Rental Hall on 221 W. Wright Avenue in Shepherd. Meals will be served to go.
The 18-year-old is Josh Morgan, a junior at Shepherd High School, who was diagnosed with cancer in March 2019 after a tumor was discovered in his brain.
Morgan had received surgery shortly afterwards and the tumor was 100 percent resected. He appeared to recover after undergoing the necessary treatment and was able to return to school in January 2019.
However, in June doctors found two new tumors had developed on Morgan’s brain and he had to undergo a new round of radiation and an infusion treatment to help shrink the tumors. By the end of July, and MRI showed the tumors were nearly gone.
Once again in January, tests revealed that there were now three tumors as the first two had grown back and the third was found in his frontal lobe.
“We have known from the start that there was no cure for Josh’s cancer,” the Josh Morgan Support Group Facebook page About tab said. “The goal has always been to make his life as good as it can be for as long as it can be. We live in moments and just hope we can have as many of them as we can, even if there may not be as many of them as we had hoped.”
As this continued, Morgan’s symptoms has wors
ened and, though a doctor had found a medical trial that would target the mutations in his tumors, Morgan decided it wasn’t worth it to continue treatment and is now enrolled in an in-home pediatric hospice care program.
“A week ago Josh decided that his body needs a break and to stop all treatment,” a flier for the fundraiser said. “This family is faced with not only the hardship that has come with this decision, but the financial burden that comes with not working, medical expenses, gas, etc. Not to mention, COVID in the mix of the turmoil.”
The family had previously started a Gofundme to help cover expenses and it currently shows that the initial goal was surpassed at over $5,000. Other community members and organizations have assisted with fundraising, as well as installing a ramp at the Morgans’ home to make it easier to get Josh’s wheelchair outdoors.
The spaghetti dinner will further raise funds by having the $10 tickets donations be taken at the door per to-go container.
For more information, visit the Josh Morgan Support Group page on Facebook, joshmorgan.gazerbeam.com, or the Josh Morgan’s Gofundme page.