Erin Moran’s Husband Recalls ‘Happy Days’ Actress’s Final Days: ‘It Got So Bad, So Fast’
Erin Moran's husband, Steven Fleischmann, says he was with the actress up until the day she died on Saturday, April 22.
Officials told ET that the 56-year-old actress likely died due to complications of stage four cancer, and in an open letter -- which was shared on Facebook by Moran's Happy Days co-star, Scott Baio -- Moran's husband talks about her health issues.
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"Erin and I met [on] April 22, 1993, and parted ways April, 22, 2017. We were planning to go to Thunder Over Louisville to celebrate," he writes, referring to the annual kickoff event of the Kentucky Derby Festival that took place over the weekend. "She was feeling fine on our anniversary."
Fleischmann recalls that in November, Moran noticed that there was a "dime-size blood stain on her pillowcase." After the problem persisted, her husband took a look inside her mouth and noticed that it was her tonsil that was bleeding.
Fleischmann writes that Moran had a biopsy and the results showed that she had "squamous cell carcinoma." a form of skin cancer. "She started radiation and chemo. Five days a week radiation and chemo, only on Thursdays. We did that the whole time," he notes. "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 fed her six to eight times a day."
Moran's husband says, despite being weak, the actress "was still happy" and "texted people on her phone all day." However, Fleischmann writes that on April 21, "she was having trouble breathing," and the next day, "she was not 100 percent."
"She needed Kleenex, so I went to the store and came back. She was there watching TV in bed. I laid down next to her, held her right hand in my left," he recalls. "I fell asleep, woke up about a hour later, still holding her hand and she was gone. She was just gone."
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Fleischmann also says the Harrison County Coroner's Office told him that the cancer had spread to Moran's spleen and "she had a lot 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 continues. "He said it was the best that she was with me and went in her sleep."
Fleischmann goes on to ask that Moran's fans, friends and family "feel free" to share his letter, adding that the "press has been relentless."
"We will see what tomorrow brings," he concludes. "PEACE my friends."
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