‘I have cancer’: Customers help raise thousands of dollars for Waffle House employee

ATLANTA (WGCL/Gray News) - Waffle House customers in Georgia are raising money for a beloved employee who is battling cancer.

WGCL reports Cynthia Morrison has called the restaurant home for 37 years, and not only will she ask for your breakfast order, but she’ll get your life story, too.

“Most of the time, I know their order, drink, and name,” Morrison said. “If you know their name, it makes them feel special.”

Morrison’s genuine interest in every customer who walks in is part of the reason one regular noticed her absence one morning.

Joey Godfrey and his family have dined with Morrison hundreds of times over the last five or six years.

“She’s always there every Saturday,” Godfrey said. “She’s always smiling, always asking how I’m doing, how are my kids doing - it’s never about her.”

When their paths crossed days later, Godfrey asked Morrison where she had been. He was shocked to learn why she called out.

“She leaned in and said, ‘I have cancer; bone cancer,’” Godfrey said.

Morrison said she was diagnosed with stage 1 multiple myeloma in March. She had just started chemotherapy pills at home and suffered a poor reaction but never planned to share her diagnosis with customers.

“I didn’t mean for it to just come out,” she said.

Morrison’s health scare comes months after she lost her brother to cancer and her mother to COVID-19.

Godfrey said Morrison’s health news hit him hard. Last year, he lost his stepdad to cancer and has a close friend currently fighting the disease.

He left a $120 tip for Morrison that day, but his generosity didn’t stop there. In less than a week, he set up a GoFundMe for Morrison, and the account had more than $5,000 in a matter of days.

Morrison said she faces eight more rounds of chemotherapy, procedures, and weeks she won’t be able to work. She said she appreciates the money, but nothing beats the kindness coming her way.

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