Alaska Special Ed teacher Jeff Hagen fights cancer

Alaska Special Ed teacher, Jeff Hagen, diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer

Jeff survived an airplane crash in 2016 flying into his village in Alaska for work, and he is now working hard to survive colon cancer. Since his diagnosis, he has not been able to go back to work and as of January 2024, Jeff will no longer have his job as a Special Ed teacher in Alaska. Jeff has been on Family Medical Leave for the past five months and has been able to keep up with his financial responsibilities. Jeff has been forced to take retirement and disability.

Jeff is a loving, caring, giving teacher who has always devoted his life to the children he teaches. Jeff loves working in Alaska and helping the community in any way he can. Jeff misses his students and it will be tough not being able to return to the school.

After major surgery in May of 2023 and the diagnosis of colon cancer, Jeff has been on an infusion of chemotherapy. This requires him to drive 150 miles to St Cloud every two weeks for treatment at Coborn’s Cancer Center. On December 29, 2023, his PET scan showed he has stage 4 cancer and four more tumors on his left abdominal side. He will start another regiment of chemotherapy in January. Jeff is currently living and working on his family cabin and will continue to drive to St. Cloud every two weeks for the infusions.

Being Jeff’s mother, I am proud to call him my son! His continued efforts to help complete the family cabin, all the while going through his chemo treatments. He has kept a positive attitude through many chemotherapy side effects.

It is at this point we decided that Jeff will need help with daily living expenses and all additional expenses caused by the cancer treatments.

Any help is greatly appreciated, and having the ability to donate to a great cause helps those in need continue to live through life’s toughest battles.

Thank you for taking the time to read Jeff's story.