Support Patrick Morgan's Fight Against Cancer

Hi Everyone,

I made this Go Fund Me on Behalf of Lauren and Patrick Morgan, to assist with helping fund their ability to keep up with living expenses while Patrick is in Stage 4 Colon Cancer Treatment.

Please read what Lauren wrote below:

In 2018, when I was writing my marriage vows, I thought about "for better for worse... in sickness and health." Sickness. Such an interesting term.

"Sick" is such a nondescript word. Sick people have the sniffles, but sick people may also be staring their mortality in the eyes. True sickness, the kind that tries your marriage to the very core, happens to other people right? Just a hypothetical phrase we swear to each other on our wedding day, yeah? I thought so too.

At least I did, until about four days ago.

I met my husband, Patrick, in 2017. We were young and bright eyed, just starting to gain our own footing. Things progressed quickly and we were married by the end of 2018 in a beautiful, Christmas-y, December micro wedding. On our first anniversary, I was pregnant with our oldest son, who was born at the height of the pandemic in July 2020. The world was frought with anxiety & so I was (did I mention my husband is in law enforcement? Yeah, we've lived through a lot...). Just 13.5 months later, in September 2021, we had our second son. Life was chaotic & busy & so sweet.

Fast forward almost exactly 3 years to Monday 8/26/24 & I found myself sitting in the ED with a lethargic, exhausted husband, being told they'd found masses in his liver. Masses? Liver?! Oh shit... I've seen liver cancer... I know what that means...

Multiple scans & a colonoscopy later, on Thursday, 8/29, we were given the earth shattering news that my sweet husband has stage 4 colon cancer. Can you cry tears of pain & let out a sigh of relief at the same time? Yes. You absolutely can. Sure, he has stage 4 cancer, but thank everything Holy it's an incredibly treatable cancer!

For years I have had anxiety about what I would tell my babies if their daddy was killed in the line of duty. I wondered how I'd survive if the Sheriff knocked on my door & gave me the news every police wife dreads. I'd watch funeral processions for other officers & wonder what I'd say if I was the one who had to stand up on that podium.

In those anxieties, God always pointed me back to Daniel 3:18: "God will rescue us, & if not, He is still good." If only I'd known how the verse I'd been practicing all that time would bear fruit... I can't help but see all the ways God was preparing our family to be able to weather news & a journey of this magnitude.

Doctors, friends, & our little family are all very hopeful. Patrick is exceedingly strong & healthy (aside from, ya know, the cancer). He is the most determined, strong-willed, stubborn ox of a man I know. If anyone can beat this cancer into remission, it's him. If my time in mental health services has taught me anything, it's that conflicting emotions co-exist more often than not. I find myself anxious AND hopeful, afraid AND determined, angry AND resolute in my faith.

We are surrounded by an overwhelming amount of support & are finding joy in the small things. This journey is going to be long, difficult, & trying, but I have faith in a God who works miracles & a husband who can do anything he sets his stubborn mind on.

My dad, who spent 32 years pastoring other people, has always told me that the opposite of faith is not unbelief... it's fear. The only thing we can control about this is how we react. I can choose to wallow in my fear, or I can chose to have faith.

In Jehovah-Rapha, the God who heals.

In the strength & will of my husband.

In the doctors & experts who are the best in their field.

Because that is my choice. No one & nothing can take that from me without my consent.

This, too, will someday be a distant image in the rearview mirror. My sweet husband will see his babies grow up & we will grow old together. And after this is all over, I'm going to write a damn book.

But for now, we'll just take it one day, one step at a time.

Here is a link to The Caring Bridge Site Lauren Put together for everyone to follow along:

Caring Bridge for Patrick Morgan