The Erik Cancer Fund

Meet Erik, he’s a 26-year-old EMT from Southern California and has just been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma.  Erik grew up, the son of an L.A. City firefighter, and dreamed of following in his father’s footsteps, providing rescue services to those in need.  At the age of 6 Erik met the first of several obstacles in pursuing his dream, he developed Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL), a Childhood cancer of the bone marrow.  In 2008, difficulty struck his family again when his father passed away from another form of cancer, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  Erik, however, did not let his childhood cancer or the death of his father stand in the way of achieving his dream. Erik began his pursuit of becoming a firefighter/paramedic by obtaining his EMT license in 2015, at the age of 25.

In 2016 Erik began the next step of his journey by enrolling in paramedic school at The University of Antelope Valley.  While in the program at UAV, after successfully completing nearly fifty percent of his program, Erik received the difficult news that he had developed cancer for the second time.  This time, the cancer is located in the muscular wall of his chest and is always draining fluid into his chest cavity, compressing his lungs, and causing frequent episodes of shortness of breath.  Due to the difficulties of this bout with cancer, Erik has been forced to suspend his participation in the paramedic program at UAV.

Even with this newest setback, Erik has not let his spirit be dampened, or let the light go out of his desire to follow after his dad.  Though he has put his schooling on hold, he is hoping, and planning, to return to school once he has beaten this devastating disease for the second time.  He is currently undergoing treatment for his cancer, and is unable to work or continue his schooling due to the disease itself, and the effects of the treatment.  The University of Antelope Valley has granted him a leave of absence, so he can defer tuition expenses, and return to school once he is well again.  While this is a start to easing his financial stress, Erik is still going to be in need of our love and support to meet his medical and living expenses while he focuses on fighting his cancer.  As Erik’s Paramedic Program Instructor and friend, I am reaching out on Erik’s behalf to ask for your love and support of this young man so that one day his dream might be realized; that one day, he might respond to the call for help from those in his community, having once made a call himself.