Man’s battle inspired 800 to sign up as marrow donors
Published 12:23 pm Tuesday, September 16, 2008
LAKE STEVENS — Matt Johnson, whose battle against a rare blood disease inspired 800 people to sign up as potential bone marrow donors, has died.
Johnson was 34 years old. He died on Sept. 4 at the University of Washington Medical Center.
He worked for Modular Electric in Kirkland for 10 years before forming his own company, JDT Electrical Contracting.
In February, Johnson was diagnosed with an aggressive form of myelodysplastic syndrome after feeling ill for several months. The disease, which prevents healthy development of red and white blood cells, can progress into leukemia.
Doctors told him and his wife, Jackie Johnson, that a bone marrow transplant was his best chance for a cure.
Friends, neighbors and fellow church parishioners organized bone marrow registration drives where people are put on a national list to be potential bone marrow donors.
“The support from the community (was) overwhelming,” Jackie Johnson said Monday.
“During the bone marrow drives, the people who walked in to join the national registry, many of them didn’t even know him,” she said.
They also rallied to help the family with medical expenses and with organizing a garage sale in Lake Stevens, a dinner auction in Friday Harbor where both Johnson and his wife grew up, and a dessert auction at the Boys &Girls Club in Lake Stevens.
His wife created a blog called “Matt’s Miracle” to document his battle against the disease. More than 1,300 e-mail messages were sent in response to updates on his condition.
In May, Johnson was diagnosed with erythroleukemia, defined by the National Cancer Institute as a cancer of the blood-forming tissues.
He underwent chemotherapy and radiation before undergoing a bone marrow transplant on July 4.
Johnson was allowed to go home for brief periods off and on during the summer, including one visit around the time of the couple’s 13th anniversary in late August.
On Aug. 28, Johnson woke up with a fever of 102 degrees and he was admitted to the UW hospital’s intensive care unit. On Aug. 30, doctors suspected that the leukemia was back.
The prayer support offered by friends to the family “was felt by us the whole time,” Jackie Johnson said. “We knew so many people were praying for us and our family.”
The prayer support has continued since her husband’s passing, she said, with prayers for both herself and her children.
Johnson is survived by his wife, Jackie Johnson, and his children, Dustin, 7; Tesa, 4; and 21-month-old twin daughters Taylor and Jordyn.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
