Our Impact

Legacies are about what is left behind when someone leaves. When Nicholas’s fight with Acute Myeloid Leukemia ended, the Koenig's were left with so much grief. Thinking about Nicholas's four-and-a-half years of life, Shannon and Erik remembered the many struggles their family had overcome, but they also remembered the times filled with joy and laughter. They recalled times when they were struggling, and other families and foundations helped them.

The Koenig's realized that Nicholas’s incredible life could be more than a reminder of loss and heartache. Nicholas’s life, and the people who loved him, could be the catalyst for something great.

Erik, Shannon, and their supporters created the Nicholas P. Koenig H.E.R.O. Foundation as a way to help other families facing the same difficult scenarios. The foundation can alleviate some of the burdens that come along with caring for a child affected by pediatric cancer.

H.E.R.O. stands for Help and Encouragement on Rough Oceans. Because if pediatric cancer is anything, it’s a rough ocean. In the case of Nicholas and his family, it was an ocean they sailed for over half of his precious life. Yet there was buoyancy: the support and encouragement the Koenig family received when they needed it most.

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Through its gifts to support scholarships in the Medical School, the Nicholas P. Koenig H.E.R.O. Foundation has substantially strengthened the University and provided new opportunities to those it serves.
– Eric W. Kaler, '82 PH.D.
President - University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus
Our son Ryan was diagnosed with Leukemia in November of 2014. Not long after that we received a monetary donation from the Nicholas P. Koenig H.E.R.O. Foundation. Shannon and Erik understood what we were, and would be, going through as Ryan battled this disease. In addition to helping individual families they also, through their foundation, raise money at fun events that they orchestrate. The money raised is used to make hospital stays more comfortable for children battling life threatening diseases. We were honored to be able to attend one of these events. We look forward to attending more of these events in the future in support of the Nicholas P. Koenig H.E.R.O. Foundation.
– Brent & Shelley Lindstrom
I would like to thank Erik and Shannon Koenig and the rest of the Nicholas P. Koenig H.E.R.O. Foundation for providing a scholarship for medical students at the University of Minnesota.
– Ryan Uselman
Thank you very much for your recent generous donation of a really wonderful assortment of toys and gift cards! Your donation will be used thoughtfully to benefit the experience of our pediatric patients and families.
– Dana Stroth
Senior Secretary - Child Family Life Services
University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital