TJ Who?

Have you wondered who the heck is TJ?  We are asked that question from time to time, so thought I would share a little about his legacy.

Terry Johnson (TJ) was a close friend of our co-founders, my husband Darren, Mike & Steve. They hung out together, worked together, got in trouble together before settling down to start families. TJ married a beautiful lady, Angela, and help bring two gorgeous children into this world; Ande Rae and Bennie Mack.

Early in 2008, TJ was told that he had colon cancer. Surgery, treatment and the battle began. My husband, along with Mike, Steve and their wives (including me :-)) decided to pull together a motorcycle ride fundraiser to assist with any out of pocket medical expenses that TJ may incur during his battle. If you know anything about cancer, you know that it is quite the BATTLE!

That beautiful day June 2007 we organized over 200 motorcycles plus several families in vehicles and rode from Elberton, GA to Helen, GA. Our ride was escorted the entire way by officers from Elbert and every county that we rode through. Our feet never touched the ground!! I’m here to tell you as a participant, we made a statement that day! There were even folks in Helen, as we were trying to find places for everyone to park at the destination, that were asking about our event and handing us money.

We presented TJ with over $8,000 cash generated in just a couple hours time at the end of our ride that day. Many tears were shed and lots of love was spread around. We just think the world is filled with hateful people….

Well, the story doesn’t end there. As TJ was going through treatments, he would call my husband Darren from time to time and say “There is this guy that I met while getting my treatments. His truck is broke down and he needs a little money to be able to fix his vehicle in order to get back and forth to treatments. Do you mind if I give him some of the money?” Every time my husband would say, “TJ, that is your money. You do with it what you want to!”

With TJ’s generous heart and my husband’s dream, we pulled together and managed to organized TJ & Friends Foundation, Inc. We had no idea what the heck we were doing! However, with the direction of a family friend, Judge Steve Jenkins, our group (giving God the glory) created this amazingly generous non-profit organization and began our fundraising history! Just so you are informed ;-), this foundation has assisted 1,764 cancer patients in only seven counties with a monetary donation! May I add that we apply NO stipulations to this donation. TJ always told us that there is practically no help with little things like gas money or food while enduring the burdens of cancer treatment.

You may be wondering what happened to TJ…. he gained his angel wings on January 1, 2010. However, I assure you his legacy lives on!