News January 29, 2025
Yankee Stadium Disabled Services Coordinator Takes Concourse Lap to Celebrate 1 Year of Regaining Ability to Walk
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To mark one year of working to recover his ability to walk after significant health challenges, New York Yankees Stadium Operations employee Kevin Eriksen walked the Yankee Stadium 100 Level Concourse on Tuesday with family and friends.
Eriksen, 34, was born with cerebral palsy, but rarely used a wheelchair as a child unless a lot of walking was required, such as at an amusement park. He attended public schools and participated in gym classes, and his parents treated him the same as any other kid.
Later in life, bouts of ulcerative colitis became more severe, sometimes interrupting whole semesters during his time at SUNY Binghamton. As a result, it took him seven years to receive his BA in Philosophy, Politics and Law. Eriksen then earned two Master's Degrees from Binghamton in Student Affairs and Public Administration in August 2019.
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But in November 2020, Eriksen was hospitalized after a particularly severe bout of ulcerative colitis caused him to lose 120 pounds. He was in the hospital and fully bedridden for a month — including Thanksgiving and his 30th birthday — and the lack of movement further atrophied his muscles, making him reliant on his wheelchair.
Doctors working to stabilize Eriksen's colitis tried a "multitude" of medications to which he soon grew immune, until they fell back on prescribing corticosteroids, which increased his appetite but broke down his muscles even further. In a vicious cycle over the next three years, Eriksen doubled his weight to 240 pounds, becoming almost entirely dependent on his wheelchair.
In the midst of his health challenges, Eriksen began working in the Yankees’ Stadium Operations Department in November 2021. The responsibilities of his job as Coordinator of Disabled Services and Guest Relations — and the expanse of Yankee Stadium — kept him reliant on his wheelchair, and he put off efforts to increase his non-wheelchair mobility.
That changed on Jan. 28, 2024. After watching the AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens at the home of childhood friend Derek Faske, Eriksen committed to making a change. He got out of his car and walked 0.2 miles in the freezing cold.
After that, he walked every single day — snow, rain or heat. He increased the length of his walk by about 0.2 miles every month. He walked near his apartment in Harlem, at the gym, and even at the Yankee Stadium concourse after clocking out.
Over the last year, Eriksen has walked more than 500 miles and shed about 70 pounds.
On Tuesday afternoon, to celebrate, Eriksen walked the Yankee Stadium 100 Level Concourse and finished on the warning track of the field. He was joined by his parents Jim and Cindy, his sister Sam, and friends Joe Doyle, Derek Faske, and Mike and Cyndy Gaynor, while fellow Yankees employees cheered him on from the concourse.
"The first day I started doing this to try to get back in shape I couldn't walk down the block without stopping to huff and puff and catch my breath," Eriksen said. "You can have large goals in mind but also keep in mind that there's many steps to get there.”
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Eriksen comes from a Baldwin, Long Island, family of Yankees fans, even attending the same church as legendary Yankees announcer Bob Sheppard. He joked that he couldn't have endured the four-hour round trip commute when he was first hired by the organization if he weren't such a fan, but he's "glad" that he did, and he expressed gratitude for his colleagues' support on Tuesday.
"To see the whole organization come together and show that support along that last lap, it was pretty special," he said.
TMX contributed to this story.