Creating a Charity 8 Days After a Rare Cancer Diagnosis: Dying Defiantly Founder Shares His Story

After receiving a diagnosis of late-stage cancer, Marshall Morris, a former business owner, decided that he wanted to live life to the fullest and not let his prognosis turn into pessimism.

In June 2021, Morris was doing yardwork when he noticed painful itching. Thinking it was just poison ivy, the then 50-year-old shrugged it off. When the itch persisted, he went to the doctor who told him that the enzymes in his liver were elevated and that he needed to see a specialist.

The specialist diagnosed Morris with stage 4 cholangiocarcinoma, a type of rare cancer found in the bile ducts inside the liver. Morris’ doctors originally planned to perform surgery to remove the tumor, but it was too large. Plans for a liver transplant similarly fell through when they realized that the cancer had spread too much throughout his body.

He then immediately underwent chemotherapy treatment and then started a clinical trial in October 2021. However, his prognosis remained poor. In January 2022, Mo