Each year more than 10,000 children are diagnosed with cancer and nearly one in three cases is a form of leukemia. There are two main types of acute leukemia, with Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) being the least common in children. In 2025, George Morford was diagnosed with AML at 8-years-old.

George’s diagnosis and hospitalization came one month before The Blast, a community walk along the Trinity River benefitting the Cook Children’s Hematology and Oncology Center.  His family and friends formed “George’s Purple Tomatoes,” on his behalf since he couldn’t go and they ended up becoming the organization’s largest team of 132 participants that year.

Now in remission, George will walk The Blast for the first time as the leader of his renamed team “George’s Funky Town Fight Club” at the 2026 event on Saturday, March 28 at Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth.

“Cook Children’s is meant for kids, and it has everything a kid could need and it makes me mostly only remember the good things,” said George.

It’s why The Blast is close to the Morford family’s hearts. Support George and all of his colleagues by clicking here to register for or donate today! 

The diagnosis

After weeks of feeling ill and various doctor appointments, Sarah Morford, George’s mom, noticed bruises on his body. Sarah knew something wasn’t right; a mother’s instinct is rarely wrong. The next morning, she woke him up and told him to gather his favorite stuffed animal and blanket. She looked up the nearest children’s hospital and drove immediately to Cook Children’s Medical Center – Fort Worth.

The staff listened as Sarah recounted their journey; George hadn’t been to school for three weeks because he was sick.

“The medical staff began palpating his stomach within five minutes and told us they wanted to rule out cancer,” said Sarah.

What came next happened so fast that Sarah barely had enough time to tell her husband, Zac Morford, that they were at the medical center. He rushed to his wife and son, arriving just in time to hear the ugly, six-letter, earth-shattering word.

Cancer.

Holly Pacenta, M.D., director of Cellular Immunotherapy at Cook Children’s Hematology and Oncology Center, diagnosed George on Feb. 26, 2025.

“This is serious. I wish you guys weren’t here,” Dr. Pacenta recalls telling the Morfords and reassuring them they were in the best hands. “We have a clinical trial through a collaboration with St. Jude and their doctors. We hope this treatment is the next best thing and while it’s scary, I do feel like the odds are in your favor.”

According to the American Cancer Society, AML starts in the bone marrow, the soft inner part of certain bones, where new blood cells are made, and most often, AML moves quickly from the bone marrow into the blood, and/or other parts of the body including the lymph nodes, liver, spleen, central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).

By 3 p.m., the medical center staff moved George to a room on the fifth floor, where he would live for the next five weeks. Sarah affectionately calls it the “fifth-floor AML hotel.”

George began chemotherapy the next day.

The hero she didn’t know she needed; Cook Children’s emphasis on family-centered care

Outside the medical center walls, friends and family showed up in little and big ways: text messages, letters, care baskets, spreading awareness for the stem cell ‘Fort Worth Swab Drive’ and creating a team for The Blast 2025. George’s friends never made him feel forgotten. They even filmed a weekly update every Friday from their classroom recapping everything from crushes between students and the latest school sports highlights from a student news anchor.

Inside the medical center walls, George’s care team took care of him and his family. On one particular day, one particular nurse made a world of difference for Sarah. George was admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) due to complications. His body was filling up with fluid due to a complication from his treatment, and it put pressure on his heart and lungs.

Laurel Summers, a PICU nurse, and Sarah teamed up on what Sarah recalls as one of the longest, darkest days the family endured. She says Laurel was delicate, listening to her concerns about George losing his dignity as an 8-year-old. For instance, instead of using the word ‘diaper,’ Summers coined the term ‘hospital pants.’

“I think knowing the small acts of kindness I showed Sarah that day made a lasting impression is super rewarding to know that it helps,” said Summers.

As a result of the complications George experienced, his medical team decided to modify his chemotherapy plan.

“I was completely spiraling. I mean, I truly had no idea, if he would live or die,” said Sarah.

Dr. Pacenta says it was a hard decision but necessary.

“You have to take a step back, if the side effects outweigh the benefits,” said Dr. Pacenta

Sarah recalls being terrified, but Summers focused on Sarah’s care too.

“She put her arms around me in the chair and sometimes you just need human touch, to just release something within you,” said Sarah. 

Sarah recalls Summers’ thoughtfulness. When she noticed Sarah hadn’t eaten all day, she brought her a drink and snacks from the nurses’ lounge.

“I'll just never forget her as somebody who I just felt went so above and beyond that day to show just a different level of empathy,” said Sarah. “She's so good at her job. I remember her face. I could pull it out of a lineup.”

George experienced complications from fluid but made a full recovery after the modified treatment plan.

The reunion

Months later Sarah took to social media to publicly thank Summers for her care and kindness. When Summers heard about the Facebook post, it lifted her spirits as she realized she gave the family exactly what they needed, when they needed it most.

 “That day I felt like there wasn’t anything I could do to make their situation any better,” said Summers. “It was such a sweet and unexpected message that we rarely get. We rarely hear that we made an impact on a family.”

The Morfords and Summers didn’t cross paths for the rest of George’s admission. On Feb. 26, 2026, one year to the date that George was admitted to Cook Children’s Medical Center – Fort Worth, that changed.

When the Morford family thought they were coming in to help with The Blast, a tap on the shoulder and a long hug from Summers changed the day. George and Sarah finally reunited with Summers for the first time.

“I’ve seen your face in my head so many times,” Sarah said to Summers right after the surprise. “Thank you for being there on that day, thank you for hugging me and for feeding me and just seeing me.”  

George has made a full recovery from his treatment complications and is in remission today and says he is grateful to everyone who supported him.

“My family was just the most supportive, and best thing that could ever happen to me,” said George.

Photo credit: Meredith Green Photography

Marlee Munguia has a rare cancer that wasn’t responding to standard chemotherapy when she was first diagnosed at age 3.

But her doctors at Cook Children’s had other strategies to try, including immunotherapy and two stem cell transplants. Thanks to those treatments – along with radiation, surgeries and scans over the past three years – Marlee has a healthier and happier outlook. 

Now age 6, she still needs treatment for neuroblastoma, a type of cancer involving nerve cells.  Cancer, however, doesn’t define her. Marlee rests up after each medical procedure or inpatient stay at the medical center in Fort Worth. Then she resumes her full schedule of play, horseback riding and representing Cook Children’s as a patient ambassador. 

Marlee shines in her role as ambassador, which suits her outgoing personality and chatty friendliness. She attends charity events, poses for publicity photos and even spoke on the radio to share her love for Cook Children’s. As her mom puts it … Marlee is social as a butterfly and fierce as a lion.  

Those ambassador duties put Marlee and her family in the spotlight to help promote The Blast fundraiser. The Blast is a 5-kilometer walk on April 6 benefitting the Cook Children’s Hematology and Oncology Center.

And it’s a cause close to the hearts of Marlee’s parents, Lani and Mason Munguia. That’s because every dollar donated at The Blast brings more research, clinical trials and treatments closer to home for cancer patients in North Texas and beyond.

“Without these newer drugs that require research and research money, Marlee wouldn’t be here today,” Lani said. “We need new drugs and less harsh drugs that don’t cause so many side effects. We can’t do that without research.”

Cancer therapies work by destroying the cancer cells, but they often cause brutal side effects to the rest of the body. Marlee lost much of her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. At times she couldn’t eat because of vomiting and the sores in her mouth. One of her transplants led to septic shock and a rare liver complication, putting her into the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

Cook Children’s oncologist Chelsee Greer, D.O. points out that just 4% of the annual federal budget for cancer research goes toward pediatrics. Financial donations help close the gap and can lead to development of new therapies that take less of a toll on children, she said. 

“Patients and families deserve more options, and that’s why it is so important to continue ongoing research and clinical trials,” Dr. Greer said. “It’s also important that the community help support organizations close to home, like Cook Children’s. Donations to our hospital help families here in DFW and across the state of Texas.”

About 15,000 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As therapies improved, cancer death rates among those 14 and younger have dropped nearly 70% over the past 40 years.

The Blast aims to raise awareness and salute everyone touched by childhood cancer. What inspires the mission? “Together, we’ll walk in celebration of the children who have fought and won, in remembrance of those who have passed and in hope for a world in which pediatric cancer does not exist.”

Team Marlee Strong will be out in force for The Blast. Her supporters include Munguia family members, friends and baseball players from Fort Worth’s Chisolm Trail High School, where Mason coaches. Here’s more of Marlee’s story, and information about ways you can join The Blast to help #blastawaycancer.

Resilience and Hope

Marlee began getting sick frequently when she was 3. In January 2021, severe pain sent her to a hospital in Odessa, her hometown, where doctors found a mass growing in her chest and abdomen. The main tumor was behind her heart, wrapped around the aorta and blood vessels that supplied the spinal cord.

It was too stormy to fly, so an ambulance took her right away to Cook Children’s Medical Center – Fort Worth. Chemotherapy started a few days later. Marlee needed a round every 21 days, staying in the hospital for at least a week afterward to be monitored.

Mason and Lani wanted to remain close by because of how frequently Marlee would be admitted. So Mason’s student athletes and their friends in Odessa boxed up their belongings; the Munguias found local housing and now live near Saginaw.

“We never got to really say goodbye to our home. It was sold by a friend of ours who was a real estate agent,” Lani said. “We never went back for like a year.”

Marlee’s course of treatment since the beginning has included several surgeries, 12 chemo rounds and 18 days of radiation. During one point in 2021, she was hospitalized for an 80-day stretch that spanned Thanksgiving and Christmas.

For much of 2023, her scans looked good. She had the energy to swim, play tennis and start kindergarten. Treatments ended and her ports were taken out. But last September, cancer was found in her femur bone.

It was a crushing setback. But Marlee resumed her immunotherapy and radiation sessions with a spirit of resilience and upbeat positivity.

Lani says her daughter shows up for appointments with a smile on her face and a wave for everyone in the medical center’s hallways. Headed to a checkup one day, for instance, Marlee chose to wear a yellow dress and hairbow. A photo captures her sunny radiance. 

She’s very much at home at Cook Children’s. Visits with the staff – including the drama therapist, Child Life specialists and Sit … Stay … PLAY therapy dogs – make Marlee’s experience as good as it can possibly be, even during a painful procedure or on the days where she ran fever and had no appetite.   

The older she gets, the more she understands that the pokes and side effects of cancer treatment aren’t easy. But she considers Cook Children’s a place where she’s safe and loved. The Glitter Girls paint her fingernails, the nurses play Roblox with her, and Marlee sings for the staff.

The grateful Munguia family leans on prayer and their support system. And they return the love by doing what they can to help other families at Cook Children’s. One year they put together 10 holiday baskets with snacks, gift cards and toys for children spending Christmas in the Bone Marrow Unit. 

Marlee’s oncologist describes her as spunky and sensitive to the needs of other people.

“Even at such a young age she understands the importance of helping others,” Dr. Greer said. “During the difficult times she has the ability to spread joy. She and her family are always looking for ways to help.”

As an ambassador for Cook Children’s, Marlee raised pledges on the Radiothon. She decorated gingerbread as part of the Cookies & Castles fundraiser for the oncology department. Her picture made the Spring 2024 cover of the Cook Children’s Health Foundation’s Promise magazine.

 Marlee likes to share her pride in Cook Children’s, Lani said. These days she takes homebound lessons for school, enjoys horse camp and is asking for drum lessons. Marlee plans to join her team at The Blast as long as she’s feeling well enough.

Lani said making a donation for research means everything for children with cancer.

“And it gives them hope. If we don’t have hope, then we really struggle every day to get through this battle,” she said. “I think that’s why The Blast has been so important to me, because it gives parents and children hope when standard treatment isn’t working.”

More about The Blast

The 17^th annual The Blast will take place April 6, 2024, at Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth. Families and friends of kids like Marlee walk every year to find a cure for childhood cancer.

When a child is battling cancer, their family suffers as well. Parents often must spend days and weeks away from work and their other children as they support their child through inpatient admission. Siblings struggle with feelings of loss and loneliness.

You don’t have to know someone who has been affected by childhood cancer to get involved. The Blast is a way to stand with these families in their hope for a brighter future. Show your support by signing up to walk, making a donation and spreading the word.

Visit blastwalk.org to sign up for The Blast 2024 today.

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