Update:

It's with a heavy and broken hearts that we are having to announce that Christa Hektoen passed away last night 12/29/25 around 10:30 pm. Unfortunately because she did not have any life insurance we have to pay for everything out of pocket. We would like to take her back to New Jersey to be buried with her husband and oldest son but we are already struggling financially. We do not have any funds to be able to do really anything we promised mom upon her death.

Any donation that we receive will help us pay for her expenses and anything more than that, we will donate a portion to dementia research in honor of her.

Hi everyone, my name is Elizabeth, and I am reaching out during one of the hardest chapters my family has ever faced. I am married, and we have three beautiful Siberian Huskies. My husband’s name is Kjell-Arne and I wanted to share a little bit about him and his family. Kjell, his brother Jarle along with his parents Christa and Jarle moved to the United States in the late 70’s. After Kjell’s brother finished high school, he decided to join the US Navy. But unfortunately the day he was supposed to come home, he was murdered by his ship mates. This was very devastating to Kjell and his parents. In 2000, his dad Jarle was diagnosed with an aneurysm in his heart and was given 6 months to live. Me and my husband Kjell decided to get married sooner so he could b there. Kjell’s dad beat the odds of 6 months and he passed away at home in February of 2008. We moved to Colorado in June of 2018 and soon after that Kjell’s mom Christa was diagnosed with Severe Vascular Dementia. About two years ago, we decided that it was best for me to quit my job so that way we could take better care of his mom because of the dementia. But within the last year or so, we were forced to put her in a home because of the dementia.

We were certainly not prepared for the costs associated with that, nor how long it took for Medicaid to start covering her. It took Medicaid over a year to kick in. We had to pay the home about $15,000 a month until Medicaid started. Which caused us to use up our entire savings and maxed out all of our credit cards to cover the costs of the home, our mortgage, and our monthly bills. I finally went back to work earlier this year, but unfortunately, we are not bringing enough in to cover the outstanding debt we have accrued. We are now struggling to keep up with the bills, and it is taking a toll on us. We are living paycheck to paycheck to cover the basic electric, gas, phone, car payment, etc., but it’s not enough to cover food, mortgage, or vet bills. We currently cannot even afford to bring our dogs to the vet for their yearly shots, bloodwork, and seizure medicine. We do not want to lose our home or our pets.

Any help you can give, big or small, will go directly to keeping our home, feeding our household, household bills, and keeping our heads above water until we can get back on our feet. If you’re unable to donate, even sharing our story helps more than you know.

Thank you for reading, for caring, and for standing with us as we fight to keep our family together and strong.