Man living with ALS for the last 24 years knocks off an item on his bucket list: Skydiving
Man living with ALS for the last 24 years knocks off an item on his bucket list: Skydiving
CBS KCTV 5, Waldron, Missouri; by Joe Hennessy; 6/14/24
One of the longest-living people with ALS, 66-year-old Mark Johnson, achieved his dream of skydiving ... His passion for the skies started at a young age with his dad being an airline pilot. ... “I used to fly airplanes when I was a kid, I always wanted to jump out of one,” he said. “Being up there, being able to see everything. All of God’s creation out there.” Johnson is one of the longest survivors of ALS, living with the disease now for almost 25 years, getting assistance from the team at Shirkey Hospice in Richmond, Missouri. He’s traveled to Washington D.C. to raise awareness and pass bills to help those impacted too. ... How did we get here ...? He was asked by the hospice care workers a while back what is one thing he wants to do and he said skydiving so they managed to find a place that would allow for that dream to come true.