Rick Johnston

2013 Grant Recipient

  • Dear Harley Helping Hands,

    I just wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for the Grant. After being off of work for over a year in the winter of 2010 due to 4 surgeries for broken hand I lost my insurance. Just after I lost my insurance, I noticed at times I could not talk. I tried to keep it to myself but one day my wife caught on and she wanted me to go to the emergency room but I would not go. Later in the day as I was watching the Bears I got up to yell at the TV and passed out. My wife called the ambulance and they told her I probably had a stroke. After xrays and a MRI I woke up to be told I had TUMOR as "Big as your fist" on the left front of my brain. After 2 surgeries to remove it and month stay in the hospital to learn to walk again I was released.

    A year and a half later after a routine MRI (and still not returning to work due to my broken hand and not having any insurance), I learned I had 2 more tumors only this time they were stage 2. After they removed those and 60 days of heavy Radiation, I am where I am today-- weak, lethargic and taking 14 pills a day. We still have a lot of bills but through the help of Harley Helping Hands I have caught up on some of them.

    THANK YOU, HARLEY HELPING HANDS I GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!!!

    Rick Johnston
    Bloomington, IL