Morgan Long celebrated her life with a party in June after being told by doctors at the Mayo Clinic that there was nothing they could do to stop the brain cancer.
“‘Why in the heck do I want people to come and see me when I’m dead? I want to see people when I’m alive. Can we have a party? Let’s have fun,’” her mother Molly Long told the Duluth News Tribune in June, quoting Morgan.
Morgan, whose family was told that she wasn’t likely to live to see her fifth birthday, died Friday at Solvay Hospice House in Duluth. She was 19.
When she was 17 months old, she was diagnosed with ependymoma brain tumor, a rare form of cancer in children. Friends and family members told the News Tribune in June that Morgan had a fighting spirit and relentlessly optimistic outlook. Jan. 30, 2014 was proclaimed Morgan Long Day in Duluth to honor her.
“I just always try to stay positive. I don’t think about the negative,” Morgan told the News Tribune in June.
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She graduated from Denfeld High School in 2015 and was determined to go to college, attending Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College.
She loved anything butterfly-related and her celebration of life party in June included the releasing of butterflies. In June, Morgan quoted her grandmother, “Whenever you see a butterfly, something good is going to happen.”
