An 81-year-old Texas man has drawn widespread attention after being filmed struggling to carry heavy luggage up a flight of stairs for work while his wife undergoes cancer treatment. Moved by his situation, strangers have since donated nearly $250,000 to help the couple.
Don Johnson was delivering luggage that Erin Howell had lost during a recent flight when she saw him on her home security camera. The Dallas-Fort Worth-area resident was stunned to discover the exhausted-looking delivery worker was 81 years old.
“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 has worked as an independent luggage-delivery contractor for the past three years. He took the job after his wife, Josephine, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.
The couple has been married for 57 years and moved in with their daughter, a change that offered some support as Josephine faced the severe illness.
Even so, mounting medical bills and prescription costs soon became too much for Johnson to manage. He decided he had to return to work to make “ends meet.”
“It’s the only job that will hire me,” Johnson told Howell.
“With the increase in groceries and expenses and everything, we were just getting by,” Johnson told NBC5 Dallas-Fort Worth. “I tried Amazon and Walmart and other places. It was either not the right moment, or they just passed on me.”
Despite his age, Johnson routinely worked 14-hour days in an effort to bring in additional income.
The physically demanding work also required him to drive hundreds of miles each day. His car has accumulated more than 200,000 miles, resulting in serious mechanical problems.
“At an age when he should be resting and spending every precious single moment by his wife’s side, he is out on the road lifting heavy bags just to keep her alive and cared for,” Howell said.
After watching the footage again, Howell decided to launch a fundraiser for Johnson and became an advocate for the family’s needs.
“He shouldn’t have to carry this crushing financial and physical weight all by himself anymore,” she said. “Every single dollar raised from this campaign will go directly to helping them survive this crisis.”
Since its launch on Sept. 2, the crowdfunding campaign has collected more than $244,000 toward its $300,000 goal.
Johnson said he was deeply grateful for Howell’s kindness and intends to use the donations to ease the couple’s financial burden.
“I think I’m going to be able to stop working, and that’s amazing,” he told KDFW. “So we’re not quite totally over the hump yet, but we’re getting there very quickly.
The donations and supportive messages have also given Josephine renewed hope as she continues her fight against cancer.
“I can face it. I think that’s the big difference,” Josephine said. “Some have made comments and they’re praying for us. And it’s just, it’s a joyful feeling.”