Support Eric Johansen's Battle with Cancer

Hello, my name is Eric Johansen. I am a three-year Shoshone, Idaho resident, after relocating from Fresno, California, where I resided for most of my adult life. Upon graduating high school, I enlisted in the United States Air Force for 4 years. My service to the community continued as a Correctional Officer with the Fresno County Sheriff's Dept for 29 years, where I retired as a Correctional Sgt in 2019. My goal was to move to Idaho upon retiring, and I was able to make the move in 2021 to Shoshone, Idaho. Once again, I began to serve the community and state of Idaho as a Transportation Technician with the State of Idaho/Shoshone District 4. All the retirement goals were being lived and enjoying life as one would.

During the month of April, I lost my sister to a long-fought health issue. During this time, I noticed I had lost some weight and was feeling less than normal. After an initial doctor check, a CT scan was performed on June 5th, and I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon and Liver cancer. As you can imagine, life took a drastic change. Consultation with the oncologist led to chemo treatments starting the first week of July. After having exhausted all sick and vacation leave accumulated, the doctor decided to place me on 100% disability. I resigned from the State of Idaho as of Aug 2nd. I had immediately applied for disability through Social Security as the doctor stated I was incurable at initial diagnosis. Due to the status of my health, a compassionate expedited decision was requested by my case worker. On August 6th, 2024, I received notice I was awarded the disability but would have a waiting period of 5 months before funds would be issued.

As with everything going on, savings are being used, but with the cost of COBRA insurance and the personal deductible of the insurance, things are adding up fast. Costs continue to arise, with medication co-pays and such. Obviously, with the diagnosis, bucket list items become something of a priority, as with normal life enjoyments with family and friends. This GoFundMe page was something that was proposed by family and friends to help. This will help with the costs of monthly insurance premiums and co-pays. Everything else would go towards enjoying quality time with my wife and family members. With any funds generously given, it would allow me to get through the holidays with my family and help me check a few things off of my bucket list. My family thanks everyone who has continued to support us through this extremely difficult time.