Family Honors Daughter with Special Tree After Battling Cancer
By: Bob Clausen, KARK 4 News
Updated: November 28, 2012
CARTIS' Festival of Trees will once again roll out a host of holiday events.
The Sugar Plum Ball gets the three days worth of events underway Thursday evening at the State House Convention Center, while the festival culminates with Tux-N-Trees on Saturday night.
Each event benefits the Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute (CARTI), which treats cancer patients in Arkansas without concern for their ability to pay.
For a young girl and her grandmother, CARTI became a common bond that lives on today.
Morgan was Mary Anderson's only granddaughter.
"Only girl out of three, out of five grandchildren, only granddaughter," said her dad Steve Anderson.
Steven Anderson considers Morgan to be toughest of the bunch, with a sweet smile to match a caring heart.
So when Morgan began complaining about constant leg pain it was worth a trip to the doctor.
The diagnosis stopped time for Steve Anderson.
"Diagnosed the next day, Morgan had bone cancer. I stopped several times on the road home to gather myself. As a father, to hear something like that is wrong with one of your children, it's hard. You're supposed to protect them, take care of them" he said.
This was a road the Anderson family had been down before, and it would lead them to CARTI again.
"My mother was at CARTI when I was 11 years old," says Morgan.
"I think it was maybe the first or second year CARTI was open," Mary recalls.
During her treatment, Mary was amazed at the level of care she got at CARTI, and knew Morgan was in good hands.
"They laugh with you, they care for you, they cry with you," she says.
Mary won her battle, and now a generation later was watching her 8-year-old granddaughter put up the fight of a lifetime.
Steve says Morgan did so with a smile and always accentuated the positives.
"She was in room nine, jumped on the bed and said, 'Hot dang, I can see the lights of the Capitol!'"
During her treatment, a CARTI a staffer found out Morgan was a big Taylor Swift fan, who, coincidentally, was coming to concert.
The staffer worked contacts at a radio station and soon a meeting was set up between the super star and the young lady with a super smile.
But Morgan still had a fight on her hands.
"The cancer was spreading so fast over her body," Mary said.
Morgan died before she got the chance to meet Swift, but soon an idea was born out of Morgan's love of Christmas and the families gratitude for CARTI.
"Before Thanksgiving she wanted a tree up, she was ready," said Steve.
The Andersons came up with a way to honor Morgan's CARTI family and help families in treatment by decorating a 'Morgan Tree' for the Festival of Trees Christmas Tree auction.
"On that tree I put things special to her: church, dancing ladies; because she loved to dance."
As hundreds of young ladies take to the dance floor during The Sugar Plum Ball Thursday evening, one of the trees lighting up the night will be in honor of a little girl who will be dancing with them in spirit and with a smile on her face.
The Sugar Plum Ball gets the three days worth of events underway Thursday evening at the State House Convention Center, while the festival culminates with Tux-N-Trees on Saturday night.
Each event benefits the Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute (CARTI), which treats cancer patients in Arkansas without concern for their ability to pay.
For a young girl and her grandmother, CARTI became a common bond that lives on today.
Morgan was Mary Anderson's only granddaughter.
"Only girl out of three, out of five grandchildren, only granddaughter," said her dad Steve Anderson.
Steven Anderson considers Morgan to be toughest of the bunch, with a sweet smile to match a caring heart.
So when Morgan began complaining about constant leg pain it was worth a trip to the doctor.
The diagnosis stopped time for Steve Anderson.
"Diagnosed the next day, Morgan had bone cancer. I stopped several times on the road home to gather myself. As a father, to hear something like that is wrong with one of your children, it's hard. You're supposed to protect them, take care of them" he said.
This was a road the Anderson family had been down before, and it would lead them to CARTI again.
"My mother was at CARTI when I was 11 years old," says Morgan.
"I think it was maybe the first or second year CARTI was open," Mary recalls.
During her treatment, Mary was amazed at the level of care she got at CARTI, and knew Morgan was in good hands.
"They laugh with you, they care for you, they cry with you," she says.
Mary won her battle, and now a generation later was watching her 8-year-old granddaughter put up the fight of a lifetime.
Steve says Morgan did so with a smile and always accentuated the positives.
"She was in room nine, jumped on the bed and said, 'Hot dang, I can see the lights of the Capitol!'"
During her treatment, a CARTI a staffer found out Morgan was a big Taylor Swift fan, who, coincidentally, was coming to concert.
The staffer worked contacts at a radio station and soon a meeting was set up between the super star and the young lady with a super smile.
But Morgan still had a fight on her hands.
"The cancer was spreading so fast over her body," Mary said.
Morgan died before she got the chance to meet Swift, but soon an idea was born out of Morgan's love of Christmas and the families gratitude for CARTI.
"Before Thanksgiving she wanted a tree up, she was ready," said Steve.
The Andersons came up with a way to honor Morgan's CARTI family and help families in treatment by decorating a 'Morgan Tree' for the Festival of Trees Christmas Tree auction.
"On that tree I put things special to her: church, dancing ladies; because she loved to dance."
As hundreds of young ladies take to the dance floor during The Sugar Plum Ball Thursday evening, one of the trees lighting up the night will be in honor of a little girl who will be dancing with them in spirit and with a smile on her face.
