Wilton - A Wilton family has been left reeling financially by cancer.

In 2010, 38-year-old Michael Warren and his family got the news no one wants to hear when he was diagnosed with colon cancer. "They thought they'd caught it in the early stages," Warren said Monday from his home in Wilton. "They were going to go in, do the first surgery, you know, take the tumor out, seal you up, send you home. That's what we had for hopes the first time. We came home and a short time after that they said, 'You're in remission, you're good. Congratulations, enjoy your life.'"

But it wasn't that simple. Less than three months later the cancer was back. "That time they found out it was stage four."

Warren went to hospitals in Lewiston and Portland before eventually landing at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to have surgery that would save hs life. "They did the surgery successfully," Warren said. "We just got put into remission a couple weeks ago. They did the post-op chemo for twelve weeks. We're going day-by-day right now."

But this ordeal has taken a huge financial toll on the family. "Financially it's devastating. I got a wife, two kids, the house. We were living comfortably. Had a good job working on an emergency apparatus for a good sized company."

But comfortable is not a word being used to describe the Warren family anymore. Michael can no longer work and his wife, Jennifer, lost her job as an office manager for a local physician when she took time off to be with her husband while he was being treated. "She went with me down to Boston to be with me all the time I was down there for the six weeks. Came back he said everything is good," Warren said. "She helped with some of the needs I had until I could get on my feet after the severity of the surgery. She went to back to work and the gentleman she was working for said, 'We're all set. We don't need you anymore.'"

Jennifer has since found a new job, but the bills have piled up and now the family may lose their home.

Michael found out last month that another growth had been spotted in his lower abdomen. Both tumors were recently removed and sent away for testing. The Warrens are waiting for the results.

Family and friends have started a fundraising effort to help out. Warren, who has spent more than two decades as a volunteer firefighter and EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), is now in the unfamiliar position of being the one who needs help. "I don't ask for help," he said. "I've always taken the reins as helping everyone else and I don't want anything in return. But I gotta put the wife and kids first."

Warren's cousin, Holden Cookson, is a photographer who lives in Waterville. He's using his talents to help out the cause. "They have around $1200 right now," Cookson said Monday, referring to the running tally of donations being kept on the fundraising website. "That just gave me the idea to do senior photos and take whatever I got from that and send it to Michael and his family."

For information on how to donate to the Warren family, you can go to their website https://www.wepay.com/donations/70334

If you're interested in having senior pictures taken by Holden Cookson, the cost is $75. You keep all the pictures and all the proceeds go to the Warren family. To set up a shoot, you can email Holden Cookson at holdencookson@gmail.com

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