Michael Schoonover Mike Schoonover

To my family and friends, I am creating this site so that I can share with you my journey to defeat esophageal cancer.  I am not creating a substitute for your visits, phone calls and texting, all of which have given me the strength to fight this battle.   I pray that your personal contact continues.  Carly helped me find Caring Bridge, a non-profit organization that provides free websites for folks like me.   I am learning how to use it and plan to periodically update you.  With prayer and positive thinking I will stay strong and win this battle against this cancer.

The journey began in February when I was not feeling well.  Barb and I were planning spring break with Carly and Kara, who just happened to have matching spring break schedules.  This would be my first spring break ever, a condition of being a CPA with audits and tax services for 45+ years.  I was concerned that I might be sick and screw up our Caribbean Cruise.  I went to the doctor a number of times and had several tests done.  A CT scan revealed some enlarged lymph nodes.  Protocol sent me to see an oncologist.  It was scheduled for the day we returned from our cruise.  We had a great time!!!  Then more tests and more procedures.  The process seemed to be never ending, with each procedure waiting days for results.  Then came the call from the doctor on April 6.  You just know when a doctor calls you personally on the phone that it is not good news.  "You have cancer in your esophagus."

I began chemo treatments starting on May 17.  I start a new treatment cycle every 2 weeks for about 3 months.  Day 3 of each cycle is the worst day.  I am dazed and tired.  Each day after the third I feel slightly better.  In short, the first 7 days are very difficult.  The last 7 days I begin to feel "human" again.  When I wrote this story it was day 7 of my third cycle.  Please pray for me and my family.  Prayer is amazingly powerful.