Teen Loses Battle With Leukemia

An Oak Park High School senior whose battle with leukemia sparked a local fund-raising effort has died of complications of the disease.

Morgan Myers, 17, died Saturday at her Oak Park home, four days after her last chemotherapy treatment at Los Robles Regional Medical Center.

Leukemia is a malignant cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

Morgan thought she was recovering from the disease, family members said, and was feeling so well after coming home from chemotherapy that she went out with friends on Thursday and Friday nights. On Saturday, however, her body hurt and she couldn’t breath well.

“Ever since she was diagnosed with leukemia, she rested in my parents’ room,” said Matthew Myers, Morgan’s 22-year-old brother. “I guess she knew she was dying because she said she didn’t feel well and wanted to go into our parents’ room. Right as she got into their bedroom, she fell into our mom’s arms, and two hours later she died.”

Since Morgan was diagnosed with leukemia in May, her brother has been working with the Leukemia Society of America for the Pennies for Patients program, a fund-raiser to promote awareness of the disease and collect money for research for a cure. The program started in Acacia Elementary School and spread to 18 after-school programs at Conejo Valley Unified schools, Oak Park High School and several schools in Simi Valley.

“I don’t care if I have to put college to the side,” he said. “Right now my focus is to my family and the Leukemia Society. I want to help the leukemia-affected children because my sister was one of the unlucky ones.”