My name is Karyn Erdman and let me tell you a little bit about my husband Michael. Michael was born and raised in Marinette, Wisconsin with 2 brothers and 2 sisters. He went to Catholic schools from kindergarten through high school. He joined the Marine Corps right after high school and served in the Gulf War from 1987 - 1991. He now works at Georgia Pacific and has been there since 1998. We have a special needs 27-year-old daughter who has epilepsy, and he has 1 stepdaughter and a stepson. We have been married for 28 years and have 9 grandchildren. He is our main provider for the family.

Thursday, April 17th, he asked me to take him to the ER because he had some pain in his stomach and thought it might be some acid reflux. He said he would eat something, and it kept feeling like the food is getting stuck and won't go down all the way. So I took him in, and they did some bloodwork and took an x-ray. His WBC was very high, so they decided to do a CT scan. Well, the scan showed a mass at the lower part of his esophagus and top of his stomach. They kept him in the hospital for 2 days. They did a biopsy the next day, and we had to wait over the Easter weekend for the results. On Monday, the results were positive for esophageal cancer. He is stage 3.

He will be doing 8 weeks of a very strong chemo called FLOT, and then he will have a month off and then down to Froedtert Hospital for surgery to remove the tumor and then another 8 weeks of chemo. He will be off of work for at least 6 months or more depending on how treatment and surgery go. With that being said, the main source of income is going to be very limited and with the medical bills, mortgage, and living expenses, we are asking for any donations. Thank you so much....the Erdman family.