Paces for Payton race helps local children who’ve received organ transplants

IDAHO FALLS — Payton Morgan was only 2 years old when she passed away from a severe heart condition in 2015.

Now the community honors her every year with a race for a good cause. Paces for Payton started in 2013, with Payton’s aunt Kim Hawkes. It was originally organized to raise funds after finding out Payton needed a life-saving heart transplant at 6-months-old.

But after the Payton’s death, the fundraiser race continued and is now used to help families with children who have had transplants.

“I thought you know what, let’s do something that brings people out, together, to get unified and raise money for this family,” Hawkes says.

Paytons story started in 2013, when she received an unfortunate diagnosis.

“(Payton) ended up getting diagnosed with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy,” Payton’s mother Stephanie Morgan says. “Along the way, there were lots of complications, so it was just kind of a never-ending battle with her.”

Dilated cardiomyopathy, which causes heart failure, has no cure and can be fatal. One of the major treatments for dilated cardiomyopathy is heart transplant.

Payton was able get a transplant a few weeks after the diagnosis, but unfortunately, she had further complication less than a year after the surgery, which resulted in the loss of her life.

“Now we just try and pay it forward to other families and support them through the transplant process,” Morgan says.

This is the fifth Paces for Payton event, and all funds raised by the event go to families of children who’ve received an organ transplant.

This year the race almost didn’t happen because of a family illness.

“We couldn’t give Paces for Payton our full undivided attention so we were going to cancel, and we had some amazing followers that have been with us since the beginning that refused to let us do that, so they jumped on board to helped us out,” Hawkes says.

This year with the help of Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center and many other volunteers and sponsors, the race continues.

“We went to the family and asked if we could be a part of it and thank goodness they said yes,” EIRMC nurse Andrew Johnson says.

Johnson said the timing of the race is perfect with April being Organ Donation Awareness Month and the week of April 22 to 27 being Pediatric Donation Awareness.

The race will be held at Snake River Landing and runners can still sign up to participate right up until race day on April 28th.

Community sponsors include Intermountain Anesthesia, EIRMC, Intermountain Emergency Physicians, Teton Hospitalist Services, Air Idaho, Idaho Falls Pediatrics, Idaho Falls Fraternal Order of Police and Idaho Fertility Center.

Race organizers encourage those in the community to properly register to be an organ donor. Donors must register through the national donor registry, and also inform family members of their decision.

“For me, this race means just keeping Payton’s memory alive and paying it forward to these families,” Morgan said. “I’ve been there, and so I know what it’s like to be in the situation, and just know that there’s help out there for those things that you know insurance isn’t going to cover.”