CONWAY, Ark. – After beating a long battle with cancer, a 7-year-old boy from Conway is hoping his journey will continue to inspire others.
Katrina Morris is the mother of Alphonso Turner, known by many as A.J., and she said in 2018 when he was 2 years old, she dropped him off with her sister, only to later get a devasting call.
“He didn’t look too well when he was going to sleep, his color changed,” Morris said.
She says he was then flown to Arkansas Children’s Hospital where he was later diagnosed with Leukemia.
“We found out on December 26th a few days after that he had cancer,” Morris said.
Morris said she didn’t think her son would live after several scary moments.
“I remember one time I thought he was gone because all of the alarms kept going off and everyone rushed to the room and that’s when I knew he was done,” Morris said.
Morris said Alphonso thankfully survived, though later his top lip turned black from an infection and more things started to happen after that.
“His lip got removed like literally three weeks after he got cancer, so it was just one thing after another it was like no breaks and after that a year later he lost his hearing,” Morris said.
After years of chemotherapy, Morris said in April of 2022 he became cancer free.
“That moment of him ringing the bell and seeing everyone that took care of him was a magical moment,” Morris said.
Now Morris added he is beginning his next chapter by getting his lip replaced.
“They just did his first surgery on his lip,” Morris said. “Now they are working on laser treatments to help with the scarring.”
Morris said a large part of Alphonso’s hearing is still lost and he’s in speech therapy but he’s learning sign language.
“Even though he can’t talk, seeing him do sign, he is starting to express how he is, so l love seeing that,” Morris said.
Another unique way Alphonso has been sharing his journey is with social media, gaining attention from thousands with messages to stay strong.
“I feel like sharing his story to this day will help others,” Morris said.
