Gary Johnson's Life Saver

Welcome to our 'Go fund me' page!

We are asking you to donate any money you can spare please, to help save the Johnson family home.

Gary and Gemma Johnson met when they were 18 and 19, back in 1996. They married in 2003 and now have 3 children aged 17, 15 and 10.

Gary left school in 1993 and joined the Army and became part of 59 Independent Commando SQN Royal Engineers. He served in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Afghanistan among other places, rising to the rank of Sergeant. Gary left the Army in 2008 after 14 years of service to become a Commercial Diver.

Sadly on Christmas Eve 2021, Gary visited his Doctor who suspected Gary had cancer, which was then a confirmed diagnosis 3 months later, as stage 4 Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma. It showed that the cancer was extensive throughout his lymphatic system and also in his bone marrow.

Gary underwent 6 months of the most aggressive chemotherapy possible, which unfortunately didn't completely kill his cancer, so he is currently having a secondary clinical trial of chemotherapy and immunotherapy over two years. The hope is, this secondary chemo will clear the cancer and extend the time before it returns. Sadly, this type of cancer will come back.

Gary has been unable to work since Christmas 2021 and hasn't received any wages or sick pay since then as he is self-employed. So far, Gary has only been able to claim limited benefits as he had critical illness insurance and savings, which after 18 months has virtually gone. Gemma is Gary's carer and has had to change her career to work three jobs to support the family, but even working 3 jobs is not covering their bills which is a massive strain on them.

Consequently, Gary and Gemma are now in danger of losing their family home. Their fixed-term mortgage had ended in January and the repayments have now more than doubled each month. They are unable to remortgage until Gary is back to work. To help out, the older children are both working as much as their studies allow, to cover their expenditures (clothes, phones, school trips etc)

They are (usually!) a happy family, who are trying to bring up their children with good ethical and moral values and have always supported others in their community. They are concerned about the impact this is having on the children being at such a crucial time in their educations and their general happiness dealing with this sadness and uncertainty at such a young age. Losing their family home would have a devastating effect on the family and if they did lose their home, they would also lose everything they have built up in their last 20 years of marriage and their working lives.

Gary is hoping to go back to his career as soon as he gets the all-clear from the doctor, which could be another two years away. Gary is finding it very hard not being able to do the things physically he has always been able to, he has always supported his family but obviously, he simply cannot at the moment which is also affecting his mental wellbeing. He is unable to mix with large groups of people especially indoors where he has to wear a mask, so he is alone quite a lot, with Gemma working and the children at school and college.

If you feel you would like to help support their family financially or know anyone else who would like to, we would be very thankful as their situation breaks our hearts each day.

Thank you for reading

From our Family