Hometown Hero Nomination Spotlight
Faith Johnson
My name is Faith Johnson and I am eighteen years old. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia and lived most of my life in Suwanee, Georgia. On November 11, 2020, I was diagnosed with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (“ALL”). At the time of my diagnosis I was a senior in high school. I was attending in person classes, despite the pandemic, had just submitted all of my college applications and was getting ready for the high school swim season to begin. A week before my
diagnosis, I was crowned Homecoming Queen of my high school. I was also Student Council President and very involved in many extra curricular activities. Although the year was starting off great, I was not feeling well. Beginning in August 2020, I began experiencing intermittent joint pain, mostly in my knees, and suffering from low grade fevers. Given the pandemic, my parents and I would presume the fevers were from COVID, but my tests were always negative. After a
couple of months of not feeling well, my mom took me to the pediatrician for blood work. The initial blood work showed that I was anemic and my doctor thought I had mononucleosis. But after a negative mono test, we had to look at other potential maladies. I was sent for a variety of tests, met with lots of specialists and
had much more blood work done. With each week, my hemoglobin dropped more and more. Finally we met with the hematologists at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorder Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. There they looked at my blood under a microscope and saw the blasts which confirmed my leukemia diagnosis. The day after my diagnosis I was admitted to the hospital. The next day I had surgery to implant my chemo port, underwent a lumbar puncture and began my chemotherapy. I stayed in the hospital for 5 days and was then discharged. Leukemia patients are treated with a relatively standard protocol involving 5 frontline phases involving intense chemotherapy and then about 20 months of maintenance, which is IV chemo less often but daily oral chemo. The first two
phases were not terrible for me but the third phase, Interim Maintenance 1, was rough. In that phase, I received high doses of methotrexate and had to stay in the hospital until I cleared it. The first admission was only three days, but the next three admissions lasted a lot longer. During my third admission I missed my senior prom and on my last admission I was discharged two days before my graduation! The methotrexate made me very sick. Those admissions were very hard.
Despite my diagnosis, I tried to make the most of my senior year. I maintained my 4.3 GPA despite having to finish school online. I was awarded the Atlanta Journal Constitution Best All Around Senior of the Year award. As Student Council President, I gave a speech to my class at graduation. I was also awarded the Inspiration award from my high school swim team as I motivated the Girls’ swim team to win first place at our state championship meet. I am also very proud to be attending the University of California Santa Barbara this fall. I will be double majoring in environmental studies and communications. After my diagnosis, I have been fortunate to become involved with CURE Childhood Cancer and the Rally Foundation. I have been asked to participate in photo shoots and to speak at
fundraisers. I joined the WSB Care-a-thon this year, which raised 1.7 million dollars for the AFLAC Cancer Center.
Until your world is flipped upside down, it is impossible to truly understand the gift of life until it is ripped away from you and the guarantee of waking up every day becomes a possibility. My advice for anyone else facing a devastating diagnosis is to not waste a day of the life you are given and to take every opportunity to live. There is no correct way to live your life so do not waste it being unhappy. As cliche as it sounds, make every day better than the day before. We
do not get to choose certain things in our lives, but we can choose the best out of them. The past ten months have been difficult but I have received so much support and love from my family, friends and community. I am excited about my future at UCSB and hope that I will be able to use the strength I have gained through this ordeal to make the world a better place.
#TEAMFAITH #OurWhy — what is YOUR why?
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