Evan’s Story
Hi! My name is Evan Erickson and I am the organizer of Gifts for M.E.
I am a 22-year-old college graduate from the University of Memphis where I received a degree in music composition. I started playing the clarinet back in 6th grade, and the opportunities for making new friends and getting to see the world only grew in scale as I continued playing. As my opportunities grew, so did my desire to use them to uplift others who might not have had the same privileges.
In August of 2024, just following my summer job coordinating the community concert series for a large music festival, I became sick with something I thought was just the flu. What started as a week of ‘just a normal sickness’ turned into multiple doctor’s appointments, 7 rounds of antibiotics, and at the start of October landed me in the hospital with my liver and spleen almost dying. When the hospital took me in for a weekend and diagnosed me with mononucleosis, a viral infection seemingly everyone gets, I believed that was the end.
The aftermath
It has been one year, and I have never recovered from how I felt entering the hospital last October. 1% of mononucleosis cases trigger a complex neuro-immune disease with no known treatments called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS, aka as M.E.), and I was unlucky enough to be one of those cases.
I was supposed to have the best senior year ever — I finally felt confident in my looks and who I was, I had an awesome girlfriend, I was getting to travel and meet people around the country, I had plans to become more deeply involved in the Memphis community with my electronic clarinet. Then, in the most unceremonious of ways, I spent an entire year on a bed in my Mom’s trailer back in my home state.
The most difficult battle has been realizing this old life is frozen in the past. Like everyone experiences with graduation, people are beginning to move on as they build their post-grad lives. Except, I don’t get to build my life or meet new people right now. I am only able to close my eyes and still feel myself walking around my campus, going on fast food runs with my friends late at night, and turning my university’s multi-million dollar music building into a personal movie theater for myself…
WHO I’M SUPPOSED TO BE RIGHT NOW
Pre-2025…
“Evan Erickson (b. 2003) is a clarinetist, composer, and engraver currently studying under Robyn Jones (clarinet) and Kamran Ince (composition) at the University of Memphis. He has been a finalist as a composer for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 ASCAP Morton Gould Award, selected to present at the College Music Society and North American Saxophone Alliance national conferences as a performer, and was awarded three distinctions at the University of Memphis as a Presser Scholar, an Award of Outstanding Achievement, and the Chamber Players Scholarship. Coming from an under-privileged background with a deep connection to music, Evan started the Evan Erickson Music Call for Scores non-profit to provide professional opportunities to under-resourced composers not receiving performances of their music due to reasons like their geographical location, financial situation, age, health, etc. Receiving sponsorships from brands like Dorico, Finale, and Noteperformer, this opportunity has helped premiere the works of 17 composers who have heard 5 or less of their pieces performed during their lifetime. Evan is passionate about breaking the mold in the composition landscape set around only supporting ‘the best’ composers who have been able to foster their unique musical voice, and seeks to empower artists and stories from all backgrounds.”
Where does this all leave me?
There have been lots of changes. I have had to aggressively accept that my life is smaller now. I have been able to find better fits for my lifestyle stuck in a bed with ME/CFS. Video games are now board games, monitors are all on monitor arms, I have electronic ink screens that allow me to still scroll the internet when I have a migraine, I use my Ninja Creami almost every single day. There is still some joy worth fighting for every day, even when my body can rise and crash like a torrential wave. Though, this is certainly not as cool as my plan to apply to study music in Türkiye with my professor, so that stings a little bit…
Gifts for M.E. is a natural evolution to the work I was doing in college. I have found great support and community online from other people experiencing my illness. I have latched on to wanting to use my talents and privileges to build this passion project to help others with my disease. Not everyone gets to have a caretaker or have their bills covered by their Mom, making purchasing any non-necessary items impossible in many people’s situations. I refuse to believe lacking privileges like money, time, and luck means you do not deserve good things!
It’s hard to tell you exactly who I am right now: I’m just some dude stuck in a bed feeling like crap every day. But, I like putting smiles on other people’s faces. If giving joy to others is a way to make my journey a little lighter, I think that is worth pursuing.
Thanks for looking through my site. This has been my biggest project to date, and it has felt so empowering to put this together even while sick. I hope my vision resonates with you and you want to help me bring Gifts for M.E. to life.