My name is Johnny. I have been a Surgical Technologist/First Assistant for the past 43 years. I started my career in the U.S. Army. After I got out, I went straight to work in local hospitals. Then I spent 25 years traveling the country, working in hospitals across the country that had specific surgical needs. I have devoted my entire adult life to helping people who needed a surgical intervention. It's been estimated I have been involved in over 30,000 surgical procedures.

Now, I am in need of a huge intervention myself. Three years ago, I started to notice a decrease in my lung functions, and two years ago, I was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The only cure for this is a Double Lung Transplant. For the past two years, I had been at work struggling on a daily basis until I couldn't function anymore because I couldn't breathe. On July 18th, 2025, I had to go out on disability. Since I left work, I have been working on the huge list of all the prerequisite tests and exams I needed to be eligible for the transplant list, and I was one exam away from being put on that list.

On October 24th, 2025, I received an email from my employer's HR department. This email stated that since I had used up all my FMLA while out on disability, and that I did not have a return to work date, in seven days I will therefore be terminated on November 1, 2025. Effectively stripping me of all my disability pay, and ALL OF MY INSURANCE, that had previously approved the Lung Transplant and everything that came along with it. So now, I am starting this GoFundMe page to help me while I navigate this journey to get my new lungs.