Heather Morgan never expected to become an expert in navigating cancer care across state lines. Yet since 2019, she has crossed multiple state lines over the span of three separate cancer diagnoses—breast, stomach, and most recently, cancer of the sacrum—and with each one, she has learned what compassionate, coordinated care truly looks like.
Now living in Knoxville, Tenn., her cancer journey has gone from a metaphorical one to something quite literal, as she makes regular trips to Fox Chase Cancer Center thanks to Angel Flight East, an organization of volunteer pilots. While most Fox Chase patients come from Philadelphia and surrounding counties on both sides of the Delaware River, Morgan is among the growing number of patients who travel from distant states or internationally for Fox Chase’s unique formula of expertise and care.
Her first diagnosis came in her early 40s, when she was living in Hainesport, N.J., and raising two young sons. After an initial experience at another regional institution left her uncertain, Morgan’s close friend Nicole recommended that she try Fox Chase Cancer Center.
“I had only heard of Fox Chase, but my first interaction with Kimberly Cobb, a nurse navigator, set the stage for my expectations,” Morgan said. “She was so compassionate that I felt immediate relief—as if, ok, someone was looking out for me.”
From her very first visit, the difference was clear. Cobb became a constant presence and advocate, guiding Morgan through every step of her care. Under the leadership of her clinical team, led by Elin Sigurdson, MD, PhD, FACS, she underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction.
“I remember being in my hospital room and Kimberly coming in to see me,” Morgan recalled. “I just broke down. She meant that much to me.” For Morgan, it wasn’t just the medical expertise that stood out—it was the compassion, the follow-through, and the sense that her care team truly understood what she was going through.
A New Home and a Second Diagnosis
While a Jersey girl at heart, there is something to life in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains that called to Morgan and her family. About five years ago—after a weekend trip to see her husband’s family in Knoxville—she and her family abruptly decided to start a new chapter in Tennessee.
“Our house in Jersey sold quickly—too quickly, in fact, as we still didn’t have a home in Knoxville and the school year starts earlier there,” Morgan said. “After the whirlwind of uprooting ourselves and settling the kids down at school, I was hit with a second diagnosis of cancer.”
In this case, it was stomach cancer—technically GIST (gastrointestinal stromal tumor). Treated at a nearby hospital in Tennessee, Morgan endured more than a year and a half of targeted therapy and ultimately a total gastrectomy. The experience was difficult, both physically and emotionally, especially with young children at home, and it lacked the coordinated support she had come to trust.
In March 2025, just as she was recovering from that ordeal, Morgan was diagnosed with cancer of the sacrum (the tailbone). This time, her friend Nicole was direct and to the point: she needed to get home to Fox Chase. Morgan connected with Jeffrey Farma, MD, FACS, Chair and Professor of Fox Chase’s Department of Surgery, who worked to schedule a full day of tests across multiple departments, including consultations with Margaret von Mehren, MD, Chief of the Division of Sarcoma Medical Oncology and Vice Chair, Department of Hematology/Oncology, and Rebecca Shulman, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology.
“Surgery wasn’t an option, but I would be in the hands of Dr. von Mehren and Dr. Schulman,” Morgan said. “Most importantly was that instant feeling of being at ease; every time I walk into Fox Chase, I feel calmer and safe, like I know I’m in the right place.”
In a visit on her birthday last April, Morgan’s care team surprised her as she arrived for radiation therapy with music, hugs, and a small gift. “It was incredible, and unlike anything I experienced anywhere else,” she said. “I took pictures. I share that story all the time.”
Her treatment plan would include several rounds of radiation therapy and medication. Now, however, the challenge became... how? As a mother of two young children in school a thousand miles away, how could she see her treatment plan through without disrupting her family life?
The answer, again, came through an urgent suggestion by her friend Nicole, whom she calls her “angel.”
Taking Flight on the Wings of Angels
Angel Flight East (AFE) was established in 1992 by a group of pilots who wanted to support relief efforts following Hurricane Andrew. Based out of Wings Field in Blue Bell, Pa., the organization quickly established a vision of helping fill the gap between the high cost of travel and the need for patients to access medical care at a distance.
AFE flew 17 missions in the first year, and today they fly upward of 750 missions annually.
“At Angel Flight East, our mission is to remove transportation as a barrier to care for patients who must travel long distances to receive specialized treatment,” said Ellen Williams, Executive Director of Angel Flight East. “For patients like Heather, our volunteer pilots provide safe, free flights, without insurance requirements, so she can focus on what matters most: her health. We’re grateful Heather found Angel Flight East and proud that our pilots across the Northeast make access to world-class care in the Philadelphia region possible.”
Pilots volunteer their time, skill, plane, and operating costs to get patients to treatment across the East Coast—up to 1,000 nautical miles in 300-mile legs, which often means Morgan meets with two or three separate volunteer pilots in each direction.
Morgan’s first flight with AFE occurred in May 2025, flying out on a single-engine Piper Saratoga. Being a passenger in such a small plane quickly becomes an exhilarating adventure, she shared. That initial flight in the six-seat Piper Saratoga was like a roomy airliner compared to her favorite, the Cirrus SR22 G7+, a high-tech four-seater with advanced features she likens to a “flying Tesla.”
Perhaps it is the kindness of the volunteers—or perhaps it is Morgan’s natural ebullience and ability to make friends wherever she goes—but she quickly became enamored with AFE and its volunteer team.
“They go above and beyond with the arrangement of flights and accommodating my schedule,” she said. “Like my care team at Fox Chase, everyone I’ve met at AFE is passionate about what they do and they have the biggest hearts. I am blessed and incredibly fortunate.”
Her trips are rarely routine, but never unsafe. Yet Morgan sees every trip up to Philadelphia as an opportunity to reconnect with friends at home and at Fox Chase. Some people might view her most recent appointment in January 2026, which came as a major winter storm was bearing down on Philadelphia, as stressful, but Morgan saw it as another adventure. She left home on Friday morning and was heading home again by next Tuesday, with a weekend of reconnecting with friends and a full Monday of appointments at Fox Chase, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Coming Home to Fox Chase
According to Morgan, every bit of travel is worth it to return to Fox Chase. Along the way, her care team continued to support her as well as her family, helping her navigate conversations with her sons, now old enough to understand the weight of another cancer diagnosis, and offering access to social work and supportive oncology services, even remotely.
Today, Morgan balances treatment with work and family life, working remotely as a settlement coordinator for a New Jersey law firm while continuing her care at Fox Chase. Her connection to Fox Chase—and to the people who make it what it is—has only deepened over time.
After three cancer diagnoses, Morgan knows the journey is not one she would have chosen. But she also knows the value of being seen, supported, and advocated for. “Fox Chase feels like home,” she says. “It always has.”