Jimmie Johnson

Jimmy is a native of Paris, Texas and now he lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His needs are simple, in 2011 he petitioned the foundation to have a carpet taken up in his house and be replaced with a tile floor. While not something you often think about, carpet becomes just one more obstacle to an aging person in a manual wheelchair. The foundation was able to grant that request.

Recently, Jimmy once again asked the foundation for assistance, this time for a shower chair to replace one that had fallen apart due to age, and for a Rojo cushion mattress for his bed so he could keep from developing pressure sores from his mattress. The foundation has not previously provided a grant to the same individual twice, but given the modest amount of his initial request, the foundation decided to grant the second application.

Before his retirement, Jimmy was a firefighter for the city of Dallas and his sister owns a general contracting business in Paris, Texas. On August 15, 1996 Jimmy's car was struck by another vehicle that ran a red light. The accident left Jimmy with broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a punctured left lung, a dislocated right lung....And a spinal cord injury at the C-5 vertebrae.

The shower chair that Jimmy had been using was almost 20 years old and decreasing mobility was causing him to get pressure sores from lying in bed. When a traumatic injury happens to someone, there is often an outpouring of assistance for that individual, including funds to purchase items not covered by insurance. If a disabled individual lives long enough however, the initial equipment wears out over time, and they find it difficult to raise funds to replace even the most basic equipment required for their health and safety. Such is the case with Jimmy, but fortunately the foundation was able to help fund a solution thanks to the generosity of donors and supporters.