Former, Longtime Co-owner of Tastee Freez Battling Rare Diagnosis

His family is asking for the public's help in getting him the treatment he needs

MOORHEAD, Minn. — Julian Elofson and his ex–wife Fern owned Moorhead’s Tastee Freez for 28 years.

But they weren’t the first Elofson’s to serve up some ice cream there.

“When I was 17, I worked there and then my sister started working with me. Then some point in that, the owners put it up for sale. I came home and mentioned it to my parents ‘oh Bob and Diane are selling Tastee Freez.’ Next thing I knew, my parents were buying the Tastee Freez which I didn’t really see coming,” said Terri Bly, Elofson’s daughter.

Elofson says between not liking his previous job and loving the ice cream, he and Fern thought it was the right investment. And it was.

“It’s something that people have been going to forever. So I think it’s just one of those traditions too. It’s a tradition. It’s my dad and mom have given a lot to the community,” Bly said.

Last year, when Elofson sold the ice cream parlor to two of his employees.

“I had to. I was feeling like something was going on,” Elofson said.

“He was having a hard time using his right hand, felt tight and the neurologist here wasn’t sure what the cause was so we went to the Mayo Clinic and the neurologist there told him he had this rare neurodegenerative disease called Corticobasal Syndrome and at the time, he told us there wasn’t a cure,” Bly said.

Elofson’s daughter Terri took matters into her own hands to find a treatment option. She finally did find a CBD drug trial at the University of California–San Francisco, but it’s going to cost the family around $12,000 with travel expenses.

“He had his first infusion in July but the study requires that he goes there every month for ten months,” Bly said.

She says the study requires that one person come with her father every time and phase two would require him to continue taking the drug monthly. That’s why she and her sister Rachel decided to set up a GoFundMe page. For Elofson, it’s also the only way to get rid of the mind games CBD is playing with him.

“It’s one thing to get old. But to get incapacitated like this is harder. My enthusiasm is still there to do stuff but I just can’t do it,” Elofson said.

So far the GoFundMe has raised a little over $7,000.

If you’d like to donate, click here.