(WWJ) State Representative Andrea Schroeder died Friday afternoon after a long struggle with stomach cancer.
Rep. Schroeder, 57, represented the 43rd District—including the communities of Clarkston, Clintonville, Independence Township, Lake Angelus, and Waterford Township.
“Even in the worst days of her illness, Andrea Schroeder was a tireless and selfless friend who always put the needs of others before her own. When we were all worried about her health and her comfort, she was more concerned about helping the people she represented...” Michigan House Speaker Jason Wentworth said in a statement after her death.
Rep. Schroeder is a wife, a mother of three—two daughters and a son--and a former teacher.
Her diagnosis of stage 4 cancer came in August 2018, just nine days after she claimed victory in the Republican primary election.
In a private recording 20 minutes after hearing the diagnosis, she said: “I have a very rare form of stomach cancer and it’s going to kill me.”
According to the National Institute of Health, advanced linitis plastica of the stomach (Schroeder's diagnosis) carries a 3% to 10% five-year survival rate.
“I was in disbelief,” she said in a different video posted on Cincinnati.com.
According to a profile piece she did for the Detroit Free Press, she held the secret from her family for a couple of days during a trip up North and a concert her youngest daughter had always wanted to attend.
The profile piece stated she and her husband decided to tell their only their children and her immediate family—but kept the diagnosis from everyone else, except her hairdresser—who helped her choose a wig identical to her own hair when it began to fallout from chemotherapy, according to the Free Press.
She told the Free Press: "I knew that if we made it public, we would be fully embraced. This community would throw their arms around us and try desperately to help us and I'm just not comfortable accepting that kind of help and ... shouldering the responsibility of making other people feel good about my situation.”
During chemotherapy, she won her seat in the Michigan House that November. She would also have a gastrectomy and radiation in the months to follow, during which time she divulged her diagnosis.
“I show up on the House Floor and someone has lunch on my desk for me, the guys who sit around me would give me their sport coats when I would get chills…they’d get me water,” she said in the video on Cincinnati.com. “…I was just blessed in every possible way.”
Representative Schroeder eventually went into remission during which time she went off all treatment.
Her cancer returned in September of 2021, according to the Free Press.
“We are struggling with her loss today,” Wentworth said. “But even more we are all feeling deeply for the close family and friends who have lost such a wonderful person.”
See Wentworth’s full statement below:
“Even in the worst days of her illness, Andrea Schroeder was a tireless and selfless friend who always put the needs of others before her own. When we were all worried about her health and her comfort, she was more concerned about helping the people she represented who had called into the office, finding out what was going on in each of our lives, sharing the latest news about her children, working with the close staff for whom she cared so much, and helping everyone around her succeed with their own personal priorities. That’s who she was as a person right from the start, and that is exactly how I will remember her.
We are struggling with her loss today, but even more we are all feeling deeply for the close family and friends who have lost such a wonderful person. Andrea’s family has requested time and space to grieve and make their arrangements, and I ask that everyone please respect their wishes during this difficult time.”