La Conner native raising funds to cure blood cancer

There are few things more grueling than running a marathon.

One of those is battling cancer.

A La Conner native knows all about the former, having previously run the Denver Colfax Marathon. Now she’s helping bring greater awareness to the latter by raising funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as she trains for the Chicago Marathon in October.

Morgan Harlan, a 2020 Baylor University grad now teaching kindergarten in Denver, is hoping to raise $4,000 for LLS by running the urban Chicago course with two friends this fall. The Chicago Marathon is typically viewed by more than a million spectators.

“I hope to raise as much money as I possibly can for such a worthy cause that is so important to my family,” she told the Weekly News on Friday.

Her family has seen first-hand the life-saving potential of bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants, and is committed to helping find cures and ensure access to treatments for all blood cancer patients.

Harlan’s grandfather, longtime La Conner resident and Dunlap Towing retiree Mit Harlan, waged a successful battle against leukemia over a decade ago.

“My grandfather,” said Harlan, “is alive because of a stem cell transplant.”

While a student at Baylor, where she was a journalism/public relations major and played club soccer, Harlan signed up for “Be the Match,” which connects patients with transplant donors.

“As a college student with a family member who had experienced cancer,” said Harlan, “I thought I was doing my due diligence by signing up for the registry.”

Last December, four years after joining “Be the Match,” Harlan flew to Seattle to donate her stem cells.

Her patient was a 65-year-old male with leukemia – the same age her grandfather was when he received his transplant.

“When ‘Be the Match’ called to inform me that I was ‘the match’ and asked me if I would be willing to donate my stem cells,” Harlan added, “my response was: ‘Absolutely.’ I hope I can give another little girl or boy more time with their grandpa like I was given.”

Harlan has not stopped there. She has taken on fundraising for the cause, doing so in a way that shows she is in it for the long run.

She has enlisted a coach, La Conner alum Carlee Daub, to help her train for Chicago. Daub is an owner of Wahoo Running, an online platform that provides coaching to runners throughout the nation.

“My first marathon,” Harlan recalled, “I was focused on completion. I wanted to prove to myself that I had the physical and mental grit to get through 26.2 miles. The Chicago Marathon will be focused more on speed and race strategy.”

As Harlan has lowered her running times, her fundraising numbers have increased.

“My fundraising has gone really well because of the wonderful people around me,” she said. “I am very thankful to have generous family members, friends, and community members.”

“My original goal was to raise $2,000,” Harlan explained, “which I was able to raise in the first week. I have since raised my goal to $4,000.”

Committing to run the Chicago Marathon on behalf of LLS is a big step for Harlan. After graduating from Burlington-Edison High School, having competed in soccer and track there, Harlan chose to go out of state for college.

“I wanted to travel outside of Washington for my four years of college and live somewhere new,” she said. “Baylor had a great mix of academic strength, athletics success and extracurriculars.”

While on the Waco, Texas campus, Harlan regularly wrote for the student newspaper, the Baylor Lariat.

Now, as she preps for the Chicago Marathon and generates support for LLS, Harlan is making rather than reporting the news.

For her, it’s a story whose headliner is her grandfather.

“He’s one of the best humans I know,” said Harlan. “Growing up, he never missed a soccer match (of mine), including a tournament in Spain. He’s very giving with his time and money, especially towards charities like LLS.”

Harlan, daughter of Mike and Jennifer Harlan, of Landing Road, southeast of La Conner, said the best ways to donate are through either her donation page: (https://pages.lls.org.tnt/rm.chicago22/MHarlan) or Facebook.