Support Eva's Journey to Recovery

Family, friends, and community.

On the afternoon of May 21st, Eva Johnson, a wonderful and loving sister, daughter, friend and human, felt lightheaded and fell backwards down her stairs head first onto the cement. She sustained a traumatic head injury (TBI) which resulted in her having two small skull fractures, two brain bleeds, a bruise on her frontal lobe and two brain surgeries. Eva is still in the ICU, intubated and sedated, so she can recover from both bleeds and surgeries as well as the bruise to her frontal lobe.

Eva is only 25 years old. She was born in San Francisco and lived there until age 11. Then, she and her family moved to Southern California for her autistic brother’s education and to be closer to her grandmother. She graduated from Laguna Beach High School in 2017. While there, she played soccer. Eva graduated in spring 2021 from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) Magna Cum Laude from the Honors College with a bachelor's degree in psychology. Eva loves to travel, explore, and learn; she even studied abroad in Thailand while at Cal Poly. She is athletic and loves to bike, hike, and rock climb; basically, she loves anything outdoors. Although Eva only moved to Flagstaff this past year, she has made a home and community for herself. She loves the variety Arizona has to offer with weather, geography, and activities. When Eva is not outside or adventuring, you can find her hanging out with her friends and making everyone laugh. She is strong and determined in all aspects of her life, whether it's meeting new people, fighting for the special education students she works with, or making sure she makes it to work the next morning after driving down to Phoenix and back to see The Rolling Stones on a school night, she will always make it happen.

Eva cares a great deal about those with special needs. Her brother is on the autism spectrum and she is his person. This journey with autism has impacted her greatly. She has worked in Behavioral Health at a hospital in Asheville, NC, worked with special kids and kids at risk in a coveted, compassionate wilderness program, and worked as a counsellor for children in a summer program at a well-respected boarding school in Istanbul, Turkey. Eva is also a talented artist. She is one of the kindest and most loving humans you will ever meet and deserves all the kindness, love and support in return. Her recovery is going to be a long rollercoaster ride, but Eva is so incredibly strong we know she will make it happen.

The funds from this page are intended to go to Eva and her family to help with medical, rehabilitation, therapeutic and life expenses she or her family cannot pay while in the hospital - and beyond. The donations will go to her current medical costs and anticipated future costs, since we do not know the full extent of the damage to her brain and what rehabilitation she will need to be able to be a 25-year-old again who loves the outdoors, going out with her friends, and making her family and friends laugh. Additionally, Eva has been working in special education as a paraprofessional at a local public middle school. Since school will be out for the summer, Eva has been looking into finding another job to sustain an income, so she can stay in Flagstaff. Since she cannot do job interviews from the ICU just yet, some of this money will also go towards her rent and other living expenses. Finally, Eva's parents and brother rushed to be with her when her accident happened and we want to help offset some of the cost of staying in Flagstaff, so they can be with her for as long as she needs.

Thank you for your support, please donate and/or share. Her family is forever grateful for the loving support and kindness of this community. I will be posting updates on this page about how Eva is doing.