Local teenager shares his St. Jude story

Grant Johnson, center, and his dad, Mike, visited WJBC's studio Thursday to share his St. Jude story during the St. Jude Radiothon. (Photo by Amanda Pigott/WJBC)

BLOOMINGTON – Grant Johnson, a junior at Normal Community and a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital patient, visited WJBC on Thursday to talk about his experience at the hospital.

Grant was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2004, with it starting in the spine. He had two surgeries in 2004 to remove the cancer, but it came back and moved to the brain. Grant has been a patient at St. Jude in Memphis since 2004, but he says the topic of conversation among friends there is not focused on their illnesses, but on “normal” teenager topics.

“We mainly talk about interests, like sports and movies, ” said Grant.

Being a St. Jude patient for about eight years now, St. Jude has had a great impact on his life.

“They do so much for all families, you just feel compelled to give back,” Grant said. “It’s a lot of people working together for a common cause.”

Grant’s father, Mike Johnson, said that St. Jude’s has been so helpful to his son and his family. The hospital pays for living on the grounds at St. Jude’s, money and help for meals, and if the family lives more than 300 miles away, they will fly you for free and the family doesn’t pay for treatment.

“It’s parallel as a cancer research and treatment facility, there’s nothing like it. We were stunned by the thoroughness and the compassion of everyone at St. Jude when we first went there in 2004,” Mike Johnson said.

As well as helping families, St. Jude also helps other research areas by sharing their information.

“The research they do is unbelievable, and they do it in so many different areas and they share all of their research for free with other industries to help in so many other areas,” Johnson said.

The WJBC St. Jude Radiothon continues Friday. You can help by becoming a Partner in Hope by calling 1-800-374-4995 or donating online at WJBC.com.

Listen to Grant’s interview with Jim Fitzpatrick and RC McBride below:

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WJBC’s Amanda Pigott contributed to this report.