The family of Erik Jensen revealed the actor, who played the character Dr. Steven Edwards in season five of “The Walking Dead,” has been diagnosed with cancer.
They shared the news by launching a GoFundMe page to raise money to cover his ongoing medical care. “After miraculously surviving a brain aneurysm just a year and a half ago, our beloved Erik Jensen was just diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer,” his family wrote.
The family described Jensen as “one of the most hardworking, loving, truthful and devoted people we know,” and appealed for aid by writing that “he needs to help his daughter grow up.”
“He needs to stick around for the beautiful community he and [his wife] Jess[ica Blank] have built. And he has a lot more art to make in the world,” the GoFundMe page reads. Jensen also has a 13-year-old daughter named Sadie, the page notes.
The actor’s family went on to detail his current medical condition.
“The cancer has metastasized to his liver, but Erik is young and strong (cutting a film during chemo, working full-time as a director and writer throughout) and his doctors have a shot at shrinking the tumors enough to do two very major surgeries and get them all out,” they wrote.
Jensen’s loved ones then went on to emphasize the urgent nature of their appeal, indicating that they are facing “massive medical costs” that are not covered by insurance and that they are in need of financial assistance.
“But Erik and his family are in for the fight of their lives, and they need your support. The lack of streaming residuals has affected Erik’s family profoundly in the past few years, as it has affected so many middle class working actors,” they added. “Erik’s aneurysm, the double strikes and now this diagnosis have put their family in an extremely precarious financial position and they need a lot of help to make it through the next year, pay for treatment to fight his cancer, keep their home, and maintain some sort of stability for Sadie.” (RELATED: ‘The Young And The Restless’ Star Christian LeBlanc Reveals Cancer Diagnosis)
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In addition to his work on “The Walking Dead,” Jensen has appeared on “For Life,” “Mr. Robot” and the miniseries “The Bronx Is Burning” and has co-written multiple plays with his wife.
The GoFundMe has raised $95,173 on the GoFundMe page, as of this writing.