The incredible story of Fr. Philip Johnson… A Hofstra University Research Assistant and Academic Researcher who healed from a terminal illness (Anaplastic Astrocytoma) and now advocates for suicide prevention and awareness. 

Suicide Awareness Advocate
From Terminally Ill to Fighting for Suicide Prevention Awareness
When Fr. Philip Johnson was diagnosed with Anaplastic Astrocytoma, Johnson was told that his illness was terminal.  He had one year left to live.  Despite this, Johnson persevered and decided to pursue his lifelong goals and ambitions.  That was in 2008.  Today, he is very much alive and striving to fight for LIFE.  Johnson had every opportunity to give up and succumb to his illness.  The terminal illness, a brain cancer known as Anaplastic Astrocytoma, could not be operated on.  This is the primary method of treatment and the approach relied on in most cures of the rare malignant tumor.  Johnson could have given up.  Due to the terminal illness nature of the diagnosis, he could have pursued physician assisted suicide, if he chose. 

The Story of Brittany Maynard;
Fr. Philip Johnson Reflects 
In 2014, Brittany Maynard’s heartbreaking story of a terminal illness diagnosis at 29 years old made its way around the world.  Like Fr. Philip Johnson, Maynard was diagnosed with Anaplastic Astrocytoma and given a terminal diagnosis with an approximated amount of time left to live.  Maynard went public with her own decision to pursue physician assisted suicide.  Johnson, who was also terminally ill with Anaplastic Astrocytoma, spoke out against this.  He took on a stance as a Suicide Prevention Awareness Advocate; making a statement to Maynard’s story in his own article.  That statement was loud and clear: our lives are worth living, even with brain cancer or terminal illness.  Johnson is living proof of that message.  In the years following his own survival of a terminal illness diagnosis, Johnson has become vocal in his disapproval of physician assisted suicide as a whole. 

Read Philip Johnson’s article on Brittany Maynard, a woman known for her heartbreaking story of a terminal illness diagnosis of Anaplastic Astrocytoma.  In his reflections on the matter in 2014, Johnson shared his incredible story and expressed why he is a Suicide Prevention Awareness Advocate.