GoFundMe has removed a viral fundraiser for 81-year-old Don Johnson of The Colony, Texas, after learning the "neighbor" who started it was actually his daughter. According to NewsNation, the campaign had raised nearly $745,000, and all donors are being refunded. Earlier reports cited lower totals.
Johnson went viral after a doorbell camera caught him carrying heavy luggage up a flight of stairs. He has delivered lost airline bags for three years to help pay for his wife Josephine's cancer treatment. The couple has been married 57 years.
GoFundMe told NewsNation it received a tip on Sept. 25 questioning the organizer's identity, who had called herself "Erin." Its Trust & Safety team found that she was Johnson's daughter, Amy. GoFundMe said this identity issue, not the family's story, led to the removal, citing "factual misrepresentations" that violate its Terms of Service.
Why hide it? According to NewsNation, Amy told GoFundMe she believed the story would connect with more people if it seemed to come from a stranger moved by the couple's situation. She reportedly maintained that every other detail, including her father's job and her mother's pancreatic cancer diagnosis, was true. The Johnsons did not receive the donated funds.
It's a hard story to sit with. A family under heavy medical pressure made a choice that broke a platform's rules, and thousands of donors who gave in good faith now wait on refunds. Both things can be true, and only the family can explain what they were thinking.
Faith has been part of this story from the start. Josephine told FOX 4 that the prayers and messages of support encouraged her during treatment. The family has since launched a new fundraiser on GiveSendGo under Amy's name, with funds going to Don and a section for prayer requests.
