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'The walking miracle' | Aldine ISD senior maintains academic standing despite complications from brain tumor removal

Eisenhower High School senior Jonathan Johnson had to give up playing basketball but hopes to become an inspiration.

HOUSTON — He attends an Aldine ISD high school named for a famous general and former President. Eisenhower High senior Jonathan Johnson recalled his own battle this year.

"It was crushing in the beginning,” Johnson said. "I was told I had a giant mass in my head, which was a brain tumor.”

The illness benched the 6-foot, 7-inch tall No. 33 who spent nearly two months in the hospital instead of at school or on the basketball court.

"They went into my brain and took as much of the tumor as they could out," Johnson said. "There’s still a little piece left because it’s entangled in my optic nerves and it’s too dangerous to go in there and get because it risks blindness.”

Johnson's mother was his biggest cheerleader through his treatments, during which her son lost the use of his left side.

"He hasn’t let this stop him and he’s not going to let anything stop him just because that’s the type of mentality that he has,” Samantha Anderson said.

Johnson isn’t only an athlete. He's also a scholar and will still manage to finish eighth in his class of about 500 seniors.

Three weekly visits to physical therapy have improved his ability to walk and his cap and gown fit perfectly.

Credit: Family

“I call him the walking miracle,” Eisenhower principal Mandele’ Davis said.

She can hardly speak of Johnson without tearing up with pride.

"Your resilience, your passion, your drive," Davis said. "It’s remarkable.”

Johnson was accepted to a number of colleges and plans to attend the University of Houston in order to remain close to home as his recovery progresses.

"My hope for him is to have a full life,” Anderson said.

Hopefully, it will be one that can inspire others.

“I’m a symbol for everybody who’s going through something and thinks they can’t make it out because, at some points, I thought I couldn’t make it out,” Johnson said.

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