What a journey my dad, Mike, has been on since the beginning of the new year. It all began during the Christmas holiday. As my mother, Jennifer, ran around the house preparing for Christmas Eve dinner, my father experienced crippling pain in his lower right abdomen. Thinking it was just muscle pain from moving furniture and cutting down the family Christmas tree, he disregarded it and continued with the festivities.

On January 2nd, this pain returned, and this time with a vengeance. Reluctantly, he agreed to go see a doctor as the pain appeared to be his appendix. From there they sent him to Main Line for a CT scan of his abdomen. They told him his appendix was enlarged but nothing worth worrying about. But this CT scan gave the Mnich family something else to worry about. An unclear mass was located in the bottom third of his esophagus. More scans were ordered.

They perform several tests on him involving endoscopies, biopsies, and bloodwork. The results came back as esophageal cancer. Needless to say, hearing those words from the doctor devastated everyone close to Mike Mnich. But a glimmer of hope was given as the PET scan indicated no spread. Michael’s treatment plan is still being evaluated by the doctors, but we are hoping to have a “plan of attack” soon.

The road will be long and difficult, but I am as sure about this as I have been about anything...God never puts anything in our path that we can't handle.  And we will handle this. I believe that everything happens for a reason.  Understanding the reason 'why" is not nearly as important as being open to all the possibilities placed before us by the universe.  And so, please send your prayers, thoughts, good wishes our way.

And then when we reach the finish line, together, we will celebrate, together. 

Love, Erica