Nancy Morgan Inspires Others to Live and Love Life

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Despite being engaged in her third battle with cancer, Nancy Morgan is determined to live and love every moment of her life, and inspire others to do the same.

The 61-year-old grandmother who is raising her 8-year-old grandson, Keith, was first diagnosed with lung cancer seven years ago.

"There was just a pain in my chest that wouldn’t go away,” she said.

Part of her right lung had to be removed, but Morgan recovered and continued with her life. At that time, Morgan said she thought she was blessed. Out of two brothers, a sister a niece and an uncle, who had all been diagnosed with cancer, she was the only one to survive.

Although it was scary, Morgan said her experience with lung cancer was nothing like what happened early last January.

She was in California visiting family when she started feeling ill and couldn’t get out of bed the entire week. When she finally made it back to South Carolina, Morgan went directly to Self Regional Medical Center.

"I told my daughter God told me to go straight to the hospital,” she said.

Upon being admitted, Morgan found out her organs were being shut down by an acute case of multiple myeloma cancer, a fast and progressive disease that affects the plasma cells in the bone marrow.

For 17 days, Morgan was sure she was going to die.

"I looked like death, I felt like death, I even smelled like death,” she said.

And when she was alone, she said a darker version of herself followed her. It would sit at the end of her bed, and Morgan said she was sure that vision was just waiting for her to die.

Morgan said the hard-working, compassionate doctors and nurses at Self are the only reason she survived.

"I know they help a lot of people, but a lot of people don’t speak out. They treated me with love and dignity. I had love at Self Regional. I can’t explain it any other way,” she said.

Morgan said she still remembers the nurse who came and made her get out of bed and walk for the first time.

"They really cared,” she said.

Chemotherapy treatment at Self brought her back from the brink, but in May, Morgan received a stem cell treatment she swears saved her life, and her quality of life. Morgan said the doctors harvested her own stem cells and then gave her a high dose of chemotherapy. Her stem cells were then put back into her body to replaced the damaged and diseased marrow. Since that treatment, Morgan said she feels as well as she did before she had cancer.

"If I didn’t have neuropathy in my hands and feet, I would feel like I was 21 years old,” she said.

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(Index Journal, Article by Felicia Kitzmiller, December 12, 2009)