Community Rallies Around Local Middletown Mailman

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The community of Middletown is rallying around a longtime local mailman who has been diagnosed with stage-four esophageal cancer, which has already spread to his lymph nodes and liver, say his family.

The family of Kevin Moran launched this GoFundMe page, which so far has exceeded its original $50,000 goal, having now raised $62,497.

"My father and our family have been completely amazed by everyone's generosity and support. We are enormously grateful," his daughter, Erica Moran Etter, told Patch.

Moran has lived in Middletown all his life, and — incredibly — worked as a mailman in the area for the past 36 years. He knows nearly everyone on his route and everyone knows him, his family said.

However, last summer Moran began to experience stomach pain and difficulty getting food down. He was diagnosed with squamous cell esophageal cancer, which had already begun to spread, his family wrote.

"Unfortunately, this type of cancer is not usually diagnosed until it is advanced and it tends to proceed along an aggressive course," his family wrote on the page. "Kevin quickly lost the ability to eat typical foods and began eating only smoothies, soup broth, etc. and could still drink most liquids."

His family said that despite nine rounds of chemotherapy last summer and fall, it was ultimately unsuccessful and several of his tumors continued to grow, including the one in his esophagus.

"Over the course of a few months, Kevin lost the ability to swallow all foods and essentially all fluids as well," his family said. This past December, he had a feeding tube placed, which is expensive to maintain. Also beginning in December 2019, Kevin’s treatment regimen was changed from chemotherapy to a combination of radiation and immunotherapy.

"Though it is a relief that Kevin has a way to ingest more food, there are ongoing medical costs related to the supportive care needed to obtain nutrition in this manner, and to deal with complications," they wrote.

His family says this type of immunotherapy is very new, and they are currently battling with his insurance company to pay for the drug, which cost thousands of dollars per each treatment.

Complicating matters is that Moran has Type 2 diabetes, and during all these treatments, his body completely stopped making insulin, his family said, so he now has to inject that, as well, "another drug that is more expensive than it should be," they wrote.

"Kevin has not been able to work since the time of his diagnosis," wrote his family. "Even with health insurance, out-of-pocket medical expenses have been substantial and have grown a great deal in a short period of time."

"Everyone who knows Kevin knows you will never meet a nicer guy or someone who cares more about other people," they wrote. "We have only made it this far because of the overwhelming support of family and friends, and we are so grateful."

Moran is a husband, father of three and grandfather of four (soon to be five).

You can donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-support-kevin-the-mailman