Why GoFundMe Shut Down $745K Donald Johnson Cancer Fundraiser - Newsweek
GoFundMe closed down a fundraiser for 81-year-old Donald Johnson of Texas, which had raised nearly $740,000 to support his wife’s cancer treatment, reportedly following allegations it was set up by his daughter who disguised her true identity.
Speaking to NewsNation, GoFundMe said on September 25 it received a tip that “Erin H,” the person who set up the fundraiser, was actually Johnson’s daughter.
The publication reported that “Erin H,” who made no mention of being related to Johnson on the fundraiser, admitted to being his daughter on a recorded call when asked by GoFundMe.
Newsweek contacted GoFundMe for comment via email outside of regular office hours.
The GoFundMe page was created by “Erin H,” who said she lives in The Colony, a northern Dallas suburb, in response to “a heartbreaking scene I witnessed right outside my front door.”
Erin said that “the other day” she’d seen an elderly man “slowly and painstakingly carrying my heavy luggage” up a steep flight of stairs, so she stepped out to help him.
According to Erin, the man identified himself as ‘Don,’ an 81-year-old who had been “working around the clock delivering luggage to make ends meet.” This was to support Josephine, his wife of 57 years, who was “fighting a severe battle against cancer.”
This produced “staggering medical bills, continuous treatments, expensive prescription medications, and everyday costs of living” that “completely overwhelmed them". Johnson said he took the delivery job because “it’s the only job that will hire me” and had travelled more than 200,000 miles by car delivering luggage.
Erin wrote: “Your donations will pay off their mounting cancer treatments, cover their daily living expenses, and finally allow him to stop working so he can safely stay home to take care of his wife.”
According to a version of Erin’s GoFundMe page that was saved by the Wayback Machine, a digital internet archive created by the Internet Archive, prior to its deletion, the fundraiser had received $739,334 out of a target of one million dollars. This was from a total of 13,000 individual donations.
Donald and Josephine Johnson were interviewed by Lori Brown of FOX 4, expressing gratitude to all those who had donated.
Donald commented: “I think I'm going to be able to stop working, and that's amazing. So we're not quite totally over the hump yet, but we're getting there very quickly.”
Referring to her cancer battle, his wife said: “I can face it. I think that's the big difference.” On the donors she added: “Some have made comments and they're praying for us. And it's just, it's a joyful feeling.”
GoFundMe removed the fundraiser for Johnson, as well as Erin’s account on the website, after saying it had uncovered “factual misrepresentations.”
In a statement to Fox4, GoFundMe said: “Ensuring GoFundMe is a safe and trusted place to give and receive help is our top priority. After further review by our Trust & Safety team, the organizer account and fundraiser have been found to be in violation of our Terms of Service, and the fundraiser removed and refunded.
“Taking action like this allows GoFundMe to protect donors’ generosity and our continued ability to support people who are fundraising to help others. GoFundMe’s policies, along with those of our payment processors, require authenticity and transparency for donors, and are strictly enforced.”
According to NewsNation, Erin confirmed she was Johnson’s daughter to GoFundMe when challenged, and said she didn’t disclose this as she thought the appeal would have more weight coming from an apparent stranger.
However, she insisted all the details regarding her father’s job and mother’s cancer diagnosis were accurate.
GoFundMe campaigns have a history of generating controversy and, in some cases, concern about who set them up.
In June, the manager of the late Daveigh Chase, who died aged 35 after being hospitalized with malnutrition, urged her fans not to donate to a GoFundMe page created by a man who said he had been her boyfriend.
Speaking to The California Post, the manager said: “Apparently, a man claiming to be her ‘boyfriend’ that none of us friends or her family has heard of has set up a GoFundMe on ‘her and her families behalf’ that he set her up as the organizer.”
In January, more than $370,000 was raised to support Jonathan Ross, an ICE agent involved in the fatal shooting of Renee Nichole Good in Minneapolis, sparking a review from the website.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Cristina Diciu.
