Erin Moran’s Husband Steve Fleishmann Shares Details Of Wife’s Battle With Cancer

The late Erin Moran’s husband, Steve Fleishmann shared the story of his wife’s final months and moments on social media on Tuesday. The post reveals that the actress died of squamous cell carcinoma, a cancer that developed in her throat and spread to her spleen, brain, and lungs.

Fleishmann says that Moran was “feeling fine” on their anniversary, November 23, 2016 but a few days later she woke up with a blood stain on her pillowcase. After the mark appeared again several nights later, Fleishmann asked to investigate.

“I get a flashlight and say let me look…it was her tonsil on the left side. I thought it was tonsillitis. So we went to an ENT who said they wanted to biopsy. It came back squamous cell carcinoma,” Fleishmann wrote in the post.

Despite quickly beginning radiation treatment and chemotherapy, Moran’s cancer progressed faster than expected.

“By the middle of February, Erin could no longer speak or eat or drink. She had a feeding tube implant and I fed her 6 to 8 times a day.”

But Fleishmann says his wife remained in good spirits, even in the face of the rapidly growing cancer.

Wrote Fleishmann, “She was happy, she was active, she texted people on her phone all day.”

On April 22, Moran woke up feeling ill. Her husband lied down next to her and the two watched TV until they both fell asleep.

“[I] woke up about a hour later still holding her hand and she was gone, she was just gone..”

According to Fleishmann’s post, the couple was unaware at how far the cancer had progressed. It wasn’t until after Moran had passed away that the cancer’s full reach was revealed.

“The coroner said even if she was in the hospital being pumped full of antibiotics she still would not of made it. He said it was the bet that she was with me and went in her sleep,” Fleishmann wrote.

Fleishmann and Moran met on April 22, 1992, exactly 25 years before Moran died.

Moran’s former Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi co-star, Scott Baio shared Fleishmann’s post on Facebook.

Baio, for his part, speculated on a radio show that Moran died from a lifetime of drug use. Moran’s brother, Tony Moran, has since demanded Baio apologize. The actor and public Trump supporter has not done so.