Erin Moran died holding her husband's hand.
Erin Moran
The 'Happy Days' actress passed away at her home in Indiana on Saturday (22.04.17) and her husband Steven Fleischmann has penned a message about the days leading up to his wife's tragic death.
In an open letter, he wrote: "It got so bad so fast. By the middle of February, Erin could no longer speak or eat or drink. She had a feeding tube implant and i feed her 6 to 8 times a day. She was still happy, she was active, she texted people on her phone all day. On the 21st she was having trouble breathing. She woke up on the 22nd, she was not 100%. She needed Kleenex, so i went to the store and came back. She was there watching T.V in bed.
"I laid down next to her held her right hand in my left. I feel asleep woke up about a hour later still holding her hand and she was gone, she was just gone.. Norton Cancer Institute never said how bad it was.. The coroner told me it was really really bad. It had spread to her spleen, she had alot of fluid in her lungs and part of her brain was infected. 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 best that she was with me and went in her sleep (sic).
The message - which was posted on Erin's former co-star Scott Baio's Facebook page - from Steven went on to reveal the pair both thought Erin had bit her tongue before finding out from ear, nose and throat specialists that it was cancer.
He added: "Erin and I met 4/22/1992 and parted ways 4/22/2017. We were planning to go to Thunder Over Louisville to celebrate. She was feeling fine on our anniversary 11-23-2016. Maybe four or five days after we got back Erin woke up and had about a dime size blood stain on her pillowcase. She said I think i bit my tongue. A couple days go by and there's a bigger spot of blood.
"We get like 4 days into December, there's more blood. I get a flashlight and say let me look. It was not her tongue 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. It came back squamous cell carcinoma. She started radiation and chemo. Five days a week radiation and chemo only on Thursdays. We did that the whole time. (sic)"