Teen’s life creates $1M worth of good deeds
He died at 14, but Brockstrong nonprofit lives on
Brock Johnson was always the smallest kid on the baseball diamond or football field, but he never let his short stature hold him back.
Still, the steroids he took for a rare autoimmune disease he’d battled since he was a baby caused the teen to grow slower than his teammates.
His mother Kristi Johnson said she recalled asking a doctor once how they should wrap the medical port Brock had so her son could play football as a middle schooler. The doctor simply replied: Kids like him don’t play football.
“But he played everything,” Johnson said. “And he was amazing at everything. If you ever watched him play, you remembered him.”
Whether it was through his athletic talents or his big heart, Brock left an impression on the Canal Winchester community, where his family lives. When he died in 2015 at the age of 14 of complications from a bone marrow transplant more than 4,000 people showed up for his funeral.
It was proof to Brock’s parents that there was still more to do with his legacy.
“When we got to the memorial service and 4,000
people were there, we looked at each other and we couldn’t let him stop there,” his mother said. “He was only 14, and he touched all these people. What would he have done if he lived to be 100?”
That question is at the heart of the Brockstrong Foundation.
It started as a way to grieve in the months following his death and use a $1,500 donation that was supposed to go to Brock’s recovery. But it has turned into efforts than have given $1 million to those in need in central Ohio and beyond.
The Johnsons, including Brock’s father, Terry, and older brother Tucker, 23, gave away their millionth dollar – for a Yosemite trip for a sick teen – last month on what would’ve been Brock’s 21st birthday.
“We try to do things that are super meaningful, but also something that would make the average person feel good,” Kristi Johnson said.
Donations focus on three areas: Nationwide Children’s Hospital, traveling baseball and community. Community, she explained, pretty much means encompasses anyone who might need “a little Brock love.”
That includes picking up grocery bills for people at Kroger, installing a fitness center at an inner-city school and renovating bedrooms for sick children. They’ve paid mortgages and daycare bills, planned Christmas for an orphanage and stocked a local food pantry.
About three years ago, the foundation donated boxes of toiletries and other basic needs to David’s Way and Canal Village, apartment complexes in Canal Winchester that serve low-income seniors.
“With seniors, this is a tremendous cost savings for them,” said Avonne Bennett, service coordinator for the properties. “Plastic bags, laundry detergent, toiletries – those are all very expensive.”
Since then, the Brockstrong Foundation (brockstrongfoundation.com) has become a lifeline for David’s Way and Canal Village residents whenever they might need something, Bennett said.
“We had a gentleman they helped with rent assistance,” she said. “Right now, not a lot of resources exist or they have a waiting list or their waiting list is full. This prevented someone from being homeless.
“I think it’s amazing how much they’ve touched the Canal Winchester community,” Bennett said. “They take care of everybody.”
Terry Johnson said it’s been incredible to watch how neighbors, acquaintances and even strangers have felt compelled by Brock and his story to give generously.
Not only do people show up in droves for the foundation’s two annual, marquee fundraising events – a spring golf outing and a Labor Day baseball tournament – but they’ll also do their own random acts of kindness in Brock’s name. The Johnsons print cards reading “You’ve been B-rocked” for people to leave when they’ve paid for someone’s dinner or given an unexpected gift.
“This couple we met on vacation, we talked to them for five or 10 minutes –
and it’s not like we say right off we lost a child – but we got to talking and they sent us $2,500 last week,” Terry Johnson said.
Then there’s the $10,000 contribution from actor Robert Downey, Jr.
In the months before his death, Brock and the movie star known for playing Iron Man (Brock’s nickname) struck up a friendship, facilitated by a friend of a friend. The two Facetimed regularly, and htey met in person in Los Angeles the month before Brock died.
The actor still keeps in contact with Brock’s parents, even leaving them a voice message in May on the anniversary of Brock’s death.
“I don’t think he intended to continue to have this relationship with this sick kid,” Kristi Johnson said about the actor. “But that was because of Brock … If you knew him, you loved him.”
His father described Brock as someone who never met a stranger.
“At 8 or 9 years old, he could carry on a conversation with a 3-year-old or an 80year-old,” Terry Johnson said.
While Brock was sick, Carmen Boyd, of Zanesville, followed his story on social media as it was documented by Kristi Johnson. Never could she have imagined that years later she’d be on the receiving end of some “Brock love.”
When Boyd’s young daughter Brinley was receiving chemotherapy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital for leukemia in 2018, Kristi Johnson brought her gift cards and presents.
“Then they called a few days later and said, ‘We want to buy lunch for you,’” Boyd said. “Tucker played his guitar for Brinley.”
Even though Brinley, now 10, is in remission, the Brockstrong Foundation still helps her family. This summer, with Boyd’s husband out of work, the Johnsons gave her a $5,000 check to help pay their mortgage.
However, Boyd said it’s the emotional support and love she’s felt from the couple that have had the largest impact. When Brinley was particularly sick and no visitors were allowed, Kristi Johnson sent a Nationwide Children’s employee she knew to their room to pray with Boyd.
“He came and sat in Brinley’s room for two hours,” Boyd said. “The most important thing Brockstrong did for me was not monetary. They’re amazing people, who have turned the biggest tragedy in life to a positive spin for so many people.”
Helping other parents of sick children and those who have lost children also has been a big part of the Brockstrong Foundation. Kristi Johnson said one of her long-term goals with the organization is to buy a cabin in a place like Hocking Hills where families dealing with pediatric illnesses or death could go for comfort.
“This is one way we’re dealing with it (Brock’s death),” she said. “We took a terrible situation, and we’re doing the best we can.”
Running the nonprofit, at times, is a welcome distraction for the Johnsons, but mostly it’s a way for them to feel close to Brock and honor the life he lived.
“To continue his legacy, that’s the greatest thing he gave us,” Terry Johnson said. “Brock continues to have a much bigger legacy than Kristi and I will ever have.” award@dispatch.com @Allisonaward