My name is Jennie and I am one of Heather's coworkers. A team of us are working on raising funds to support the Olsen family as they navigate this devastating diagnosis.

Erik's journey told through Heather:

We learned of Erik’s cancer diagnosis in November of 2022 after he went to a routine eye appointment and they noticed something unusual behind his eye and recommended an MRI. The MRI detected a cancerous tumor (astrocytoma stage 4 ).

On November 11, 2022 he had a successful surgery to remove the tumor, after two weeks of recovery he was back at work. He began a pill form of chemo along with 6 weeks of radiation. Erik was feeling well all throughout with minimal side effects. He would get an MRI every two months along with taking a chemo pill every four weeks throughout 2023. In December of 2023 we learned that the tumor was back and growing so he started on a new chemo treatment through infusion every other week. The new growth has caused him confusion and memory loss given the tumor is in the frontal lobe and moving through the brainstem. Erik is unable to work now due to memory loss and confusion.

Erik and Heather have been married for 23 years. Heather has been employed with the Little Falls School District for 8 years. Erik, up until recently, has been a devoted employee of Hormel Foods for 22 years. They have five children: Chase 18, Cayden 16, Chloe 12, Claire 5, and Cooper 2 years old.