Community Comes Together to Support Solberg Family
Steven Solberg has Crohn's Disease, his newborn daughter can't hear
FARGO, N.D. — A community puts on a free–will pancake breakfast and raffles off prizes to raise money for a Fargo family who just can't seem to catch a break.
Steven Solberg has been battling Crohn's Disease, which causes inflammation in the digestive tract, since 2015.
"He was getting treatments and they wouldn't work and that's when he had to go down to Rochester for surgery at the Mayo," said Anna Hanson, a family friend of the Solberg's.
"He was there for almost 6–8 weeks down there and then Allison was taking off of work to spend time with him to be down there," said Laurie Hansen, Steven's mother-in-law.
Steven was forced to quit one of his two jobs he had because of his condition.
Then over $100,000 in medical expenses started to weigh on his wife Allison and their four kids.
"They were a really hard working family before all this happened. He had two jobs so obviously that was a big stressor. They're both really hard workers and not being able to do what they always do, I think it's been hard on them," Hanson said.
With one challenge came another.
In March, Maisie Solberg, the couple's fifth child was born.
But she has so much fluid buildup in her ears, that she's unable to hear anything.
"She knows we love her. It would just be nice if she could hear us say that to her," Hansen said.
So she can hear those three words, Maisie will have surgery at the end of the month.
Friends of the family say they've been amazed at how the Solberg's have handled it all.
"In a heartbeat, any of us could be in the same situation and that's the part that we all think we have problems and then it's really an eye opener to see people dealing with real problems and handling it gracefully. It's very inspiring," Hanson said.
The organization Lend A Hand is helping make this benefit possible for the family.
"Putting on a benefit is very stressful. They match up to 20 percent of funds. They help with forms, signage, they were just really incredible. They right away from the get go gave them advice on what you needed to do and what you needed to know, things you would never think of when you're running a benefit," Hanson said.
But it's everything everyone has done that is even giving Allison's mom some hope for both her son–in–law and her granddaughter's future.
"There's just no. I don't even know how to thank someone in the community like this for everything they've done to help them," Hansen said.
If you'd like to help the Solberg family, click here.
Categories: Community, Health, Local News, North Dakota News
Tags: benefit, Community, crohn's disease, Hansen, Hanson, hearing loss, solberg
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