Husband, wife meet medical challenges a day at a time

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Husband, wife meet medical challenges a day at a time

about 20 hours ago

By BOBBY WARREN
Staff Writer

WOOSTER -- Prayer changes things.

That's what helps Linda Shaw Johnson and her husband, Royce Johnson, deal with yet another health issue.

First, physicians diagnosed Linda Johnson with lupus in 1997. Her weight kept her off an organ waiting list for two years. Once she shed 120 pounds, she waited another nine years before receiving the kidney in March 2008.

Then, Royce Johnson hopped on his bike and pedaled to Akron for a ride in October. The following day he collapsed in his home and eventually was transported to Cleveland. He discovered he had a medically induced liver condition, caused by a reaction to a beta blocker in his medication for high blood pressure.

After he collapsed, Royce Johnson spent three of the next five months in hospitals. Now he needs a new liver.

For more than a decade he helped his wife deal with a medical condition, and these days he is confronting his own.

"I had no idea I would ever go through something like this," Royce Johnson said.

In a matter-of-fact manner, he conveyed what doctors told him: He can live 12 months without a transplant.

"I'm hanging in," he said.

Royce Johnson competed in track in high school, was athletic and was never sick, his wife said.

After learning about her condition and then later her husband's, Linda Johnson said faith has played a part in coping with the news. She firmly asserts Royce Johnson will get a liver.

"I have not given up. I will not give up," she said. "I know God does things in his own time (as when she received a kidney), and I feel the same for Royce."

Linda Johnson recently spoke at a Kidney Foundation of Wayne County event at Wooster Community Hospital, shared her experiences and spoke briefly about her husband.

"You can be fine one day and the next day be sick," she told the group.

What's been difficult for Royce Johnson is no longer being able to work at LuK USA.

"One of the worst things is not to be able to work, not be able to earn your own living," Royce Johnson said.

Linda Johnson said she experienced similar feelings when she was no longer able to work after being employed for 20 years. She went from earning a paycheck every two weeks to figuring out how to deal with getting through each month on limited resources.

Still, with everything the Johnsons have endured, "I am extremely blessed," Linda Johnson said.

She encourages others to "live each day as if it were your last. As far as relationships go, never go to bed without saying 'good night' or 'I love you.'

"If you have an argument, never go to bed without saying 'I am sorry.' ... You have to put your faith in God, and you never give up."

Reporter Bobby Warren can be reached at 330-287-1639 or bwarren@the-daily-record.com. Follow him at www.twitter.com/robwar0100.

http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/article/4555647