My friendship with Josh (de Lioncourt) Johnson and his wife Molly started when they walked through the doors of the UU Fellowship two years ago in March 2024. Two months before that, in January, they told me, their beloved dog, Monkey, had died. In February, Josh was hospitalized for severe anemia and had his first blood transfusion. It took months to understand what was going on for Josh, and by the end of April he was scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy. It wasn’t until late May that the results of Josh’s biopsy came back. He had MDS which is essentially a form of cancer—extremely rare for middle aged men. He needed a stem cell bone marrow transplant to fix it. Unfortunately his case was so unique that the insurance company had no policy to deal with it and would not authorize his transplant. So, Josh and Molly have endured the last two years valiantly dealing with Josh’s health, his insurance, and his disease. Meanwhile, Josh, severely tested by his anemia, has continued to work as an accessibility Quality Assurance contractor, where he is contracted for 8 months of the year. He buys his own health insurance on the marketplace and this year after buying a different plan on the exchange he finally got a plan that would allow him to get his transplant. So the journey begins.

At the beginning of this year, Josh was again hospitalized at Mount Nittany Medical Center, and has a $7000 medical bill. To prepare for his transplant he needed a tooth extraction which cost him $700 and he is paying for his health insurance premium which skyrocketed from $200/month in 2025 to $900/month in 2026. Our goal is to raise $10,000 to pay for these bills so Molly and Josh can worry a bit less as they move towards the bone marrow transplant at Hershey Medical Center.