A brave 6-year-old Bowie County boy is currently in Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock fighting a battle that no child should ever have to, since he was diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (B-ALL).
The disease, the most common form of leukemia in young people, is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood in which the body makes too many immature white blood cells called B-lymphoblasts.
Walker Morgan is known as a fun-loving boy that loves outside activities like hunting and fishing, and he loves the sport of football, especially the University of Texas Longhorns.
His mother, Tamara Morgan, spoke with the West Bowie Post last week and says that her son is not only battling the leukemia with chemotherapy, but has also developed medicine induced diabetes. He is on steroids as well as the chemotherapy and struggles with a loss of appetite, while she has to constantly monitor glucose levels.
Though allowed to go home for a time, he had to be taken back to Little Rock because of a staph infection. That infection is responding well to antibiotics and Walker and Tamara hope to return back to Texarkana soon. They have paused chemo treatments temporarily while they work on a problem with high liver enzymes.
Tamara says as long as the liver enzyme levels trend down they should be able to return to the comforts of home soon.
She notes that the doctors and staff at Arkansas Children’s have been amazing and a that a scheduled bone marrow biopsy should give them a better indication of how all of the treatments are working for her son.
Tamara and the family are leaning hard on their faith through this battle and she says that she has hope that their battle will enable her to help other moms going through the same thing in the future, as moms have come forward to help her.
She says, “There is going to be another mom that needs someone to lean on, and I can be that person some day.” Walker and his family are in the beginning of what she says will be a two and a half year battle to defeat the disease, and when asked what people could do to help she emphatically asked for prayer.
“Pray. Pray hard. We know it is the only thing that will carry us through this long fight,” she said.
Along with prayers, many have come forward to help financially through fundraisers and independent giving.
Texarkana’s Diamond Bank, where Tamara is employed, has an account set up to help the family.
Anyone can make a donation directly to the “Walker Morgan” benefit account at any time. The bank is located at 5714 Richmond Road in Texarkana.
Also watch the West Bowie Post Facebook page for new fundraisers as they come along.
