Community Corner

Johnson Headed to Disney World After Kidney Donation

After donating a kidney to his brother, Dovell Johnson and his daughter are headed to Disney World.

Nearly five months after Severna Park Middle custodian Dovell Johnson donated a kidney to his brother he has made a full recovery. In fact, he is doing so well that he is headed to Disney World with his four-year-old daughter.

“My brother called me one day and said, ‘We are going to Disney World,’” Johnson said. “I told him I didn’t have the money for that, and he said, ‘I didn’t ask you, I am telling you that you are going, and I am paying for you and your daughter.’”

Johnson’s brother Rhondell Jones has many reasons to be thankful for his brother—the biggest reason perhaps is that Johnson saved Jones’ life.

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On Nov. 13, Johnson donated a kidney to his brother. Before the surgery, Johnson told Patch he never even hesitated when he found out he could help Jones.

“I didn’t even think twice about,” Johnson said. “I think anyone would do it especially when it was your brother. He practically raised me. It is the least I can do.”

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Five months after the surgery Johnson and Jones are both doing well. Jones was recently cleared by his doctors to go back to work, and Johnson is back in the halls of Severna Park Middle, which is exactly where he wants to be.

When Johnson didn’t have enough sick days for his recovery time, members of the Severna Park Middle staff donated their own days to help them. Now that he has recovered, Johnson said there is no place he would rather be then back at school.

“I try to tell them everyday how much I appreciate everyone,” Johnson said “I really respect everything they did for me. I have never had so much love in my life. They gave me so much love it was overwhelming. I still think about it all the time.”

See Also:

  • SPMS Custodian: I’m My Brother’s Keeper

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