One person changed Don Johnson’s life.
After Erin Howell saw the 81-year-old delivery man struggling on the steps with her luggage, which had been lost on a recent flight, she was heartbroken.
“The other day, my door cam caught an 81-year-old man slowly and painstakingly carrying my heavy luggage that had been lost on a recent flight up a steep flight of stairs. He looked absolutely exhausted, and his steps were heavy with effort,” Howell wrote on GoFundMe. “It completely broke my heart to see a man of his age doing such intense, grueling physical labor.
“The reality is that he isn’t working by choice; he is working for survival,” Howell added.
Johnson, who lives in Texas, said he tried Amazon, Walmart and “other places” after his wife Josephine’s diagnosis three years ago.
“It was either not the right moment, or they just passed on me.”
When he finally got work as a contractor, it offered no salary, no benefits, hundreds of miles a day, 200,000 on his car and counting, 14-hour shifts, stairs.
He and Josephine have been married 57 years.
They’d already moved in with their daughter. “With the increase in groceries and expenses and everything, we were just getting by.”
Erin knew he’d be too modest to do it himself, so she set up a GoFundMe on Sept. 2; it passed $700K today.
He says he’ll be able to stop working. “It seems unreal. It seems to be a miracle. I am eternally grateful for all the people that have given to my situation,” Johnson said.
What we didn’t know: GoFundMe says a third of their campaigns are for medical costs, something the company never expected.
Sadly, this is not an isolated case. The US spends more money per person for medical benefits, yet many people are underinsured or can’t afford their medicines. Other countries have figured it out, why not the US?
Part of the issue is that American healthcare costs more primarily because of higher prices for medical services, drugs, and administrative overhead costs.
