Support Erik's Fight for a New Liver

My name is Allison (Allie) Olofson and I’m creating a GoFundMe campaign for my husband Erik who needs a new liver. This is one of the hardest requests I have ever written.

Since birth, Erik has had alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. This genetic hereditary deficiency has attacked his liver and has caused it to turn on itself.

My strong, sweet husband has deteriorated before my eyes in the past few months and it has been so fast. He has felt weak, seen his energy drop, and has physically transformed into someone you don’t recognize. He retains extensive fluid, is in pain, and has lost a substantial amount of weight/muscle mass. We go twice a week for Erik to be drained of fluid (paracentesis) averaging 10.5 - 12.0 liters of fluid being removed.

Erik now has end-stage liver disease and is in desperate need of a transplant. We have traveled quite a bit to Houston in the past few weeks and are working with Baylor College of Medicine ~ St. Luke’s Medical Center to qualify to be placed on the UNOS liver transplant list. He had his transplant evaluation in Houston on June 13-14, 2024. It was 17 appointments over 4 different facilities and we are waiting for the next steps from the medical review board.

Once listed, we will need to temporarily relocate to Houston, or no more than 75 miles from the transplant hospital for the next steps, transplant, and post-transplant care.

We need your help. I’m raising funds for medical expenses, transportation, and temporary housing costs. As you can imagine, transplant surgeries are not cheap. The average cost for a liver transplant is over $880,000, granted insurance helps some but it does not cover everything.

How the funds will work:

Thank you.

Erik now: