Waves Rise is Morgan Lovell’s story of parenting a child through a high-risk cancer diagnosis—written in real time, in hospital rooms, on long drives to Iowa City, and in moments where faith carried us through the unimaginable.
The Author
Morgan Lovell is the mother of Kennedy, Charles, and Adeline Lovell, who battled leukemia for two and a half years. Adeline was deemed cancer-free and rang the victory bell after concluding treatments on November 19, 2024.
Morgan is the devoted wife of Chris Lovell, whom she spent years working alongside at their family’s telecommunications company, CL Tel, in Clear Lake, Iowa. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Northern Iowa and serves on the Level 11 Family Advisory Council at the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
Why This Book Exists
I didn’t set out to write a book. I started writing because I needed somewhere to put the fear, the exhaustion, and the hope we were carrying.
This book was born from daily journal entries written from diagnosis forward. It is raw by design. Every childhood cancer journey is unique. This is Adeline’s.
Waves Rise is the book we wish we had the day we heard, "Your child has cancer." It was written to comfort, to equip, and to remind parents they are not alone.
Our Story
On July 7, 2022, our daughter, Adeline, was diagnosed with high-risk B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The day we received her cancer diagnosis is forever etched into memory. Time slowed. Words blurred. The future became uncertain.
What followed was not a straight line, but a journey marked by fear, faith, exhaustion, kindness, and resilience. A life lived in hospital rooms, on three-hour drives to Iowa City, and in the tension between fear and faith.
This story does not begin with perspective or hindsight. It begins with shock, fear, denial, and prayer, and unfolds in real time as we learned how to live inside a reality we never expected.
Faith, Honestly
Giving Back
This book is also a thank-you. A portion of proceeds supports University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital, where our daughter received extraordinary care and where groundbreaking pediatric cancer research is taking place. Giving back is central to why this story is being shared.