Miracle Kids

Seth

Heather Morris began relying on rainbows in 1990. Her soon-to-be husband, Paul, deployed to Desert Storm, pointed out a rainbow in the sky and called it “our promise” that he would return to her safely. Heather and Paul were married when he returned from military service, and were soon the parents of four beautiful boys, Gage, Hunter, Seth and Logan.

When Seth was three years old, his mother noticed a small lump, barely pea sized, just under the skin of his thigh. When it was clear the lump was growing, their Scott & White pediatrician referred Seth to pediatric oncologist Dr. Lawrence Frankel.

Dr. Frankel asked Dr. Danny Custer, pediatric surgeon, to perform an excisional biopsy in November of 2002. When the pathology report indicated spindle cell sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, Dr. Custer performed another more extensive incision to remove additional thigh tissue from Seth’s leg.

Several months later, the cancer returned, and Seth required another surgery, going even deeper into the muscle to assure the margins of remaining tissue were cancer-free.

Seth began chemotherapy within weeks of his last surgery in June of 2003, spending five to six days in the hospital every three or four weeks. He endured serious side effects due to his suppressed immune system and came to rely on Jenny Damron, Child Life Specialist. She and her colleagues helped Seth and his family handle all the traumatic medical procedures that can be very frightening to a child during cancer treatment.

Five weeks of radiation treatments followed the last round of chemotherapy. Heather Morris drove to Scott & White from her home in Hubbard five days each week.

“We were very happy with the care Seth received at Scott & White,” Mrs. Morris said. “They doted on him. Every week he got a new Beanie Baby and a gift basket on Friday. We were very comfortable with the Scott & White doctors. We felt they were more than capable of taking care of him and we have been happy with all of his care. For us, treatment at Scott & White was definitely the right decision.”

Throughout the long weeks after she learned that Seth’s cancer had returned, Mrs. Morris kept seeing rainbows in the sky. A rainbow had now become a symbol of promise to bring the Morris family through Seth’s illness. It was Seth who first noticed a beautiful picture outside the radiation treatment room, of a double rainbow over a rocky canyon.

By the end of November 2003, Seth had completed his radiation treatments. At first, thorough checkups were required several times a year, then every six months. In late 2007, Seth reached a milestone in his recovery and now will return to Scott & White for checkups just once per year until he is eighteen years old.

The Morris family has had many blessings since Seth began his treatment, including a Make-A-Wish Foundation vacation to Disney World in June of 2004 and a beautiful baby sister named Jenna, born in early 2005. Seth is now a happy nine-year-old with no residual effects from his cancer or his treatments – except a marked affinity for showing off his scar.

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