Gwynyth Sonora Morgan was born in Tucson, Arizona on May 4th, 2011 to Zach and Heather Morgan, while her parents were stationed at Fort Huachuca. Her middle name is a reminder of that time in the Sonoran Desert, full of wonder and beauty. Gwyn and her parents were then transferred to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, where she learned to enjoy the evergreen rainforest of her mother’s home state. While Heather was deployed to Afghanistan for 9 months, Gwyn and Zach explored Washington. In 2014, she became a big sister to Lorraine, and the family transitioned out of the Army, traveling cross-country in their tiny house on wheels. Together, they lived in 450 square feet for nearly seven years, spending hours daily outside in every season. Having returned to her father’s home state of Kentucky, Gwyn became a lover of nature and of being barefoot, making fairy gardens and working with her hands. Her observant eye lent itself to the enjoyment of art and science, especially. Gwyn attended New Horizons preschool in Frankfort, KY, and K-1 at Wright Elementary School in Shelby County, KY. One of her favorite spots was downtown Frankfort, near the old capitol building, the shops, and the Kentucky Historical Society.

In 2014, her family began attending St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Frankfort, where she was baptized, received first communion, and was spiritually and emotionally nurtured by weekly services, Sunday school, church potlucks, children’s choir, and the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. In 2018, she and Lorraine became big sisters to Marian, and the family embarked on their first year of homeschooling with a Classical Conversations community. Gwyn immediately took to this kinetic, integrative approach to learning, and eventually enrolled in grammar, history and art classes online with Veritas Scholars Academy to supplement her home and community learning. Gwyn experienced a hemorrhage in her brain in November, 2020.After emergency surgery, she was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma of the thalamus, an aggressive and lethal brain tumor with genetic mutations that made it even more deadly: It repaired its own DNA to prolong the life of the cancer cells, and masked its presence to the immune system by appearing benign. Gwyn bravely underwent the standard of care (40 days of radiation and chemotherapy at Norton Children’s Hospital) in order to be eligible for clinical trials. During this time, the family lived at the Ronald McDonald House in downtown Louisville, which enabled Gwyn to participate in intensive rehabilitation therapy for mobility on the left side of her body, which had been severely impacted by the tumor hemorrhage. Both Gwyn and her family prayed for miraculous healing from her brain damage and terminal cancer diagnosis, but when this did not happen, all resolved to support her living life as fully as possible. Her grandparents, along with many aunts, uncles and cousins and friends, made this possible and enriched her experiences, even when she had to use her wheelchair.

In spring 2021, Gwyn began traveling every 3 weeks with her family to St. Louis Children’s hospital as part of a clinical trial. She shared many adventures at tourist attractions in Kentucky, Indiana, and Missouri along I-64, and enjoyed the many things to do in St. Louis. She experienced a tumor recurrence and seizure in November 2021, requiring hospitalization. Gwyn let her interest in science help her become an informed young patient, and asked her caregivers to explain which part of the cancer cell would be affected by a given treatment: DNA, cell membrane, mitochondria, etc. When presented with the limited options, she chose to decline further clinical trial options based on their outcomes and side effects, receiving palliative chemotherapy at UK Children’s Hospital every 3 weeks. The kindness and compassion of Gwyn’s many medical caregivers over the course of her year-and-a-half journey bolstered her spirits, and remain an inspiration to her family. After receiving compassionate hospice care from Heritage Palliative and Hospice Care, Gwyn died at home on July 3, 2022. She is survived by her mother, Heather, father, Zach, and sisters Lorraine and Marian. Her family remains committed to sharing her story as an example of a “race well run,” even though she is dearly missed every day. In spring 2022, just a week before her 11th birthday, Gwyn Morgan became a published children’s book author, through generous support of the Make-a-Wish Foundation. She wrote her first draft of “Drippy: The Tale of the Sad Rain Cloud” in the summer before her diagnosis. You can help us spread her legacy, and interact with her book at the website: https://www.drippytherainclou…

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