A Winter Staycation for the Toews Family
The Toews family.
Winter in northwestern Oklahoma brings a stillness that settles over everything. The wheat fields rest, the wind cuts sharper, and families with young children learn quickly how long the days can feel indoors. For Morgan Toews, this winter arrived with an added weight — Stage 3B Triple Negative Breast Cancer — and a house filled with a seven-year-old, a five-year-old, and a nine-month-old who has yet to discover the concept of slowing down.
Morgan grew up in Watonga, a small Oklahoma town where wide skies and tight-knit community shaped her early years. She always knew what she wanted to be when she grew up: a mom. That dream became her life’s center, and today she and her husband, Josh, are raising three young children who carry the same sweetness and curiosity she hoped for when she imagined motherhood.
She is a runner — the kind who carves out time for miles between the demands of parenting and homeschooling — and she was nearing the end of half-marathon training when everything shifted on October 1. Her nine-month-old daughter, in the flailing, unpredictable way of babies, hit a spot on Morgan’s chest that felt unusual. The area turned out to be unrelated, but the scan that followed revealed a tumor in her breast and cancer in a lymph node. The diagnosis rerouted every plan she had made for the coming year.
Treatment began quickly. Morgan had to stop breastfeeding the same week, a loss that brought its own grief. Her baby had never taken a bottle, and ending that chapter earlier than planned added strain to an already disorienting season. Homeschooling paused so she could focus on her care. Josh, a contract worker who is paid only for the hours he works, missed days of income to accompany her to appointments. The rhythm of their home shifted.
Even in the hardest moments, she has stayed rooted in gratitude — especially for the baby who unknowingly led her to get checked sooner than she otherwise would have. It is a thought she returns to often.
What she misses most right now is ease. A day where she watches her kids be kids. A moment when the house feels light again. A break from the heaviness that comes with treatment, appointments, and unknowns.
This winter, she will get that.
Morgan will use her Love Bomb for a local winter staycation — a night or two away with her children, somewhere warm, indoors, and full of noise that belongs to joy instead of worry. Think of an Oklahoma hotel with an indoor pool, the kind where the air smells like chlorine and children race down hallways with their goggles already on. The kind where parents sit in deck chairs and watch their kids burn through an entire season of pent-up winter energy in a single afternoon.
For a family with three children — two of whom could power a small town with their energy — a staycation is not a small thing. It is rest. It is relief. It is a memory made during a chapter defined by appointments. It is a weekend where Morgan can be present with her kids in a way treatment has made harder.
The Rural Gone Urban Foundation’s Love Bomb will give the Toews family a winter getaway close to home: a pool, a change of scenery, laughter echoing off tile walls, and a chance for Morgan to see her children enjoy something that feels normal and bright.
She has carried a heavy load since the day of her diagnosis. This staycation is a reminder that even in the coldest season, warmth finds its way back.
