Craig — For Steamboat Springs resident Lorraine Morrison, specific dates and times from the past several weeks have become jumbled.

Surgeries, nights in Children’s Hospital in Denver and days taking care of family members all melted together after an emotional holiday season.

But she’ll always remember when she first got the call.

It was, Dec. 5, 2009, the day the Steamboat Springs High School football team was set to play Valor Christian for the 3A football championship.

Just before kick-off, a family member gave her the news.

Her second cousin, 6-year-old Logan Morrison, of Hayden, who loves bowling and the Denver Broncos, was being rushed to Denver for emergency surgery after complaining of a stomach ache for weeks.

The next day, the findings were confirmed.

Logan was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system.

The young football fan would watch the rest of the Broncos games from his hospital bed.

“It was in his abdomen, and the tumor was very large by that point,” Lorraine said. “It was inoperable. It was too intertwined with the rest of his organs.”

For the past several weeks, Logan has spent most of his time in Denver going through chemotherapy, which has put a significant emotional and financial strain on his family, Lorraine said.

A fundraiser will take place Saturday at Thunder Rolls Bowling Center, 990 Industrial Ave., to benefit Logan and his parents, Aden and Katresha, who alternate sitting by Logan’s bed in Denver and working in Steamboat Springs.

Starting at 6 p.m., the fundraiser will include a 50/50 raffle, door prizes and a $20 special that includes three games, bowling shoes, snacks and prizes.

Children younger than 10 will be able to bowl for $10.

Burkitt’s lymphoma is not an unfamiliar term to the Craig community, which recently lost 20-year-old resident Cory Pike to the same disease.

Chris Runyan, who works at Thunder Rolls, said Aden and Katresha are regulars at the bowling center, where they were part of a league.

Runyan said her heart sank when she heard the news about Logan and that when Lorraine approached her about a possible fundraiser, she didn’t hesitate to say, “Yes.”

“No. 1, I love kids,” Runyan said. “No. 2, it just made my heart sad to know that about him, especially with Cory Pike passing away with same thing.

“I just said, ‘We’ll do it. Just tell me the date, and we’ll get it done.’”

Thunder Rolls owner Beryl Dschaak said she likes to try to help community members out whenever possible.

“We do fundraisers for anyone that needs anything,” she said. “And Logan really likes to bowl. Any place that we can help, we pretty much cut the fees as much as we can. We try to do a good deal for them.”

Dschaak said her granddaughter, Amber, usually paints a special bowling pin for children’s birthday parties and plans to decorate a pin with a Denver Broncos theme for Logan’s family to take to him in Denver.

Lorraine, who has visited Logan several times in the hospital, said the lively kindergartner’s spirits have been high despite the circumstances.

“There are certain days he looks awful and he feels awful,” Lorraine said. “But when his blood counts are up, he’s much better. He was always a really perky kid, and he’s still like that.”

Still, the ordeal has been a struggle for the Morrison family, Lorraine said.

She said medical bills are stacking up, along with many other unforeseen expenses.

“They have needed tons of support,” Lorraine said. “But they are not the kind of people to ask for help at all. I finally told Aden that people have to be allowed to help them, that it will make them feel less helpless.”

She will attend the fundraiser and encourages people in the community to get out for an evening to support a local family.

“For one thing, it’s a ton of fun to go bowling, and it’s a fun way to have a fundraiser,” she said. “But I also think it’s just really important, especially when we’re facing some really hard things in our country and around the world.

“It’s important for people to stand together. It’s a chance to go out, spend a little money and know that you’ve helped someone.”