Boy succumbs to brain cancer

Deirdre Newman

A 10-year-old who had been fighting brain cancer for five months died

Tuesday night.

Tony Morrell, who loved to play with his Xbox, was a fourth-grader

at Kaiser Elementary School.

Around Christmastime, Tony was given two to four weeks to live.

His family took him to Texas to try an experimental drug, but his

cancer was too advanced and he was too weak for it to work.

His parents, Carol Dugan and Bill Morrell, will not be commenting

publicly for at least a week. A memorial service has not been

scheduled yet.

His grandfather, Bob Dugan, said he and his wife spent time with

Tony’s parents on Tuesday night after Tony died.

“We knew it was coming,” Bob Dugan said. “[Tony] made comment

during the time he was sick and wondered why it was him and [why]

things were going the way it was.

“He loved to fish,” he added. “He and his dad used to go out in a

boat. So we kind of think of him as out there fishing, and one of

these days we’ll go fishing with him.”

A fundraiser on Tuesday evening at the Red Robin in Orange raised

$2,174 for Tony’s family.