Support Erik Evans' recovery from brain surgery

Hello Family and Friends!

Erik had been having intermittent headaches since the end of January 2024. The headaches would come and go but must have been somewhat tolerable as he kept functioning with them all through February and most of March. Last week, Erik had a normal work week followed by a planned weekend road trip. He woke up Monday morning (March 25th) with one of the reoccurring, nagging headaches and took an aspirin. Between the snowy weather and the headache, he decided to not go into work.

By Monday afternoon and into the evening, the headache became so severe that he reluctantly agreed to go to urgent care in Burnsville. He was seen quickly, and the doctor wisely advised that as a 50-year-old man with no history of headaches, he get a brain scan ASAP. Erik was advised to head to the Methodist Hospital emergency room in St. Louis Park. It took a few hours to be seen by a doctor and then receive a brain scan. Needless to say, he was surprised when the doctor walked in and mater of factly announced that Erik had bleeding on the brain and would need to have surgery to release the pressure and repair the bleed. Erik was admitted to the ICU at 3 am on Tuesday, March 25th with brain surgery scheduled for 11:30 am the same day.

In true Erik fashion, demonstrating excellence in all he does… he had the best brain bleed that a person could have. Thankfully, the bleeding was ON the brain rather than IN the brain. The name of the type of bleed is called a subdural hematoma. While it was still brain surgery, the condition is very treatable and a surgery that neurosurgeons perform often.

The surgery took approximately 1.5 hours and went well. The hematoma (pooled blood and membranes) was the size of a blown up whoopie cushion! It was placing enough pressure on his brain that his brain had shifted 1.7 cm. With the pressure released and his brain going back to normal, he is expected to make a full recovery to include some bad ass scars! Erik continues to prove he is truly unstoppable!

He may have to have a follow up outpatient procedure to ensure the brain bleed does not re-occur. The good news is that once he is healed, the sub-dural hematoma is not likely to reappear. As far as a cause of the bleeding, Erik may never know the exact cause. The doctor stated that this type of brain bleed is from trauma, meaning he hit his head; however, there hasn’t been a time that Erik can pinpoint where he hit his head in any significant way.

Erik has been recovering at Methodist and will likely be discharged by Saturday or Sunday - assuming his pain is under control. The remainder of his recovery will occur at home and is estimated to take at least a month if all goes as planned. (But we know that "as planned" means to plan for the unplanned!)

We all know Erik will be hard pressed to take it easy for that long, especially as a self-employed person who is

passionate about his work, so please join us in supporting his recovery! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

P.S. If you would like to support Erik in another way, please reach out to on here!