Community generously responds to help 8-year-old boy battling leukemia
By Debra Moore
When Lucio Mascias decided to host a fundraiser for an 8-year-old Quincy boy battling leukemia, he knew the community would support it, but he had no idea how much. On Sunday, Oct. 11, his restaurant raised $5,300 to support Adam Morgan and his family.
“Our fundraiser for Adam’s Fight against Leukemia was a huge success,” read Lucio’s post on his Facebook page. “Thank you to the whole Quincy community who supported our fundraiser this past Sunday. The Lucio’s team appreciates you for not only eating in, ordering take out, waiting in line for long periods of time, but also for the generous tips.”
His niece, Blanca Ruiz, said her uncle and aunt wanted to help the Morgan family as soon as they heard of their plight. Blanca’s sister is a special education teacher at Quincy Elementary School and works with Adam’s father, Alec, who is a fifth-grade teacher there.
Blanca said that her aunt and mom cooked some of “their special, authentic” dishes for the day. “There was a line outside the door.”
She added that Lucio’s employees supported the effort by working for free and donating all of their tips to the Morgan family. Lucio’s donated all of Sunday proceeds to the Morgans in a check of $4,000, plus cash tips that were collected next to the register for an additional $1,300.
The money will be used to help cover medical, travel and lodging costs for Adam’s treatments at U.C. Davis Medical Center, which are expected to span 2.5 years.
But that’s not the only help he has received. Family friends Whitney Maez and Christina Russo established a gofundme page that as of today, Oct. 14, has raised $29,710. The goal is $50,000.
Maez also has been collecting contributions for the family separate from the gofundme effort.
Adam lives with parents, Alec and Courtney, and 5-year-old brother Isaac in Quincy. He is a second-grader who loves the outdoors. In addition to dad Alec who is a teacher, mom Courtney works with the Trio Program at Feather River College. They will be juggling work and weekly trips to the medical center for Adam’s chemotherapy and other treatments.
Though Adam loves to play outside with his little brother, he currently uses a wheelchair due to extreme pain in his joints. When Adam began complaining about the pain, his parents thought he might have childhood arthritis since it’s a genetic trait carried by the family. But tests revealed leukemia, and on Sept. 11, Adam received his first chemotherapy treatment at UC Davis.
The public can help by going to gofundme or those who wish to contribute directly to the family, can do so by contacting Whitney Maez at [email protected].
