It was Tallyn calling me in a panic and with raw emotion. I remember like it was yesterday…she said that “Morgan (our daughter) was not breathing, her heart had stopped, and she was unresponsive.” Tallyn (who was on vacation in North Carolina) had just received “The Call” from Morgan’s uncle who told her that “Morgan was riding a 4-wheeler…it threw her…landed on her…and she was unresponsive, not breathing, and her heart had stopped. I rushed from Cleveland (where I was living at the time) and had the longest 2-hour drive of my life…that was nothing compared to Tallyn’s 10-hour drive from North Carolina. I still can’t even imagine how she got through that drive. 

Morgan fought valiantly for two and a half days, but the trauma and shock was too much for her body to handle. Tallyn and I told our Angel “That if she was tired and didn’t want to fight any longer, it was okay for her to go home and that mommy, daddy, and bubby (her brother Preston) would be fine.” Morgan’s sunset at 2:35PM on August 12th, 2020.

Leaving the hospital knowing that we would never see our Angel again was devastating. The grief and the pain were overwhelming. We hadn’t even thought about the next step of our journey (which would be Morgan’s cremation and her celebration of life) or the expenses that we would incur.

Fortunately, Tallyn and I were financially able to cremate Morgan, put her ashes in a beautiful urn (called The Morgan), and give her “The Celebration of life” that she deserved! The cost and expenses were astounding! So, what if we could not have been able to afford those costs or any for that matter? What would we have done? Who would we have turned to?

As we sat back and thought about it…we went back to the day that we left the hospital without our Angel and realized that no one (not a Nurse, Doctor, Case Worker, or Administrator) even asked us if we would need help with the next steps? There were NO resources offered or even suggested to us…not even a brochure. Not even the funeral home that cremated Morgan asked us if we needed any type of financial assistance in order to be able to pay for their services. Who’s even thinking about researching that when you are experiencing the most excruciating and indescribable pain of your life.?

Sure, there are financial services and banks…but who truly wants to deal with the stress of applying, securing, and paying back a loan while they are experiencing such raw and painful emotions after losing a child!?

Tallyn and I knew that we wanted to start a nonprofit in Morgan’s name to keep her memory alive, but we just did not know what?  We also concluded that the financial support and assistance of the bereavement process in our society (local, state, and federally) was inadequate and truly rather non-existent. We soon realized that we wanted to assist and support parents (who have lost a child and are economically dis-advantaged or in a low-income status) financially and emotionally. This was the answer to our question.!

After much prayer and a lot of thought, Tallyn and I are proud to say that we are the Co-Founders of “The Morgan Breanna Hicks Foundation!” A non-profit organization that was created to assist and support parents after the loss of a child through the financial and emotional part of the bereavement process.

We know that the grief and heartbreak is for a lifetime, and that it will never go away. However, we are so excited and proud to be able to help other parents who have lost a child. We are honored to do this all in the memory of our Angel…Morgan Breanna Hicks.

-Tallyn and Cecil