2019 Light The Night Honored Hero - Twin Cities
Morgan Yesnes
CML/ALL Ph+ Survivor
Edina, MN
Morgan's Journey
In the fall of 2010, Morgan was unusually tired for an active 14 year old and had a terrible cough. Several doctor visits could not determine what was wrong until a blood test finally confirmed that he had leukemia and it was so advanced he needed an aggressive treatment plan. Morgan's first treatment was not successful and he was moved into hospice care. Then one of his doctors decided to try Dasatinib, a drug funded by LLS and approved for children with CML and ALL Philadelphia Chromosome +. It was like a miracle. He responded immediately and achieved a deep level of remission. Today, Morgan is doing well and he enjoys attending college at Augsburg, watching sports, reading and going on vacations with his family. He takes his pills daily and his remission has remained intact with no expectation that will change. Morgan and his family are overwhelmingly grateful for all the research into treatments for blood diseases and the work LLS does on a daily basis.
2019 Light The Night Honored Hero - Sioux Falls
Olivia
Stage 4 Burkitt's Lymphoma Survivor
Olivia's Journey
My name is Olivia and i'm a stage 4 Burkitt's Lymphoma survivor. My cancer story began when I was brought to the doctor because I was too weak to walk. It took two doctors appointments to accurately diagnose me with lymphoma, and then treatment started. My sister was only a month and a half old when I was diagnosed so it was an overwhelming and scary time for my family. Cancer treatment was really tough, I had to start chemotherapy right away which was good for shrinking tumors but really bad for my kidneys. Over the course of treatment I got a lot of infections and even ended up in the ICU which was really scary. After months in the hospital, I got to be the first child to ring the bell at my children's hospital! Now I am cancer free and love to sing, especially to my baby sister Norah. I like glitter and sparkles and any sort of adventure. One of the best moments of the last year was getting my port removed and turning 5 years old! I love being the Light The Night Honored Hero so that other little kids like me see there is hope and superpower when fightring the bad guy - cancer. Olivia's mom, Brittany, shared she is grateful that LLS is bringing awareness to one of the rarest cancers - Burkitts.