Former Greenwich Reporter Diagnosed with Brain Tumor, Fundraiser Started

GREENWICH, CT — A GoFundMe was started to help former longtime Greenwich crime reporter who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor.Joe Johnson spent 14 years as a Greenwich journalist at Greenwich News and later the Greenwich Time under the byline J.A. Johnson Jr.

During his time he covered the Martin Frankel Ponzi scheme case, did a number of stories on the Martha Moxley murder and wrote a Pultizer-nominated series about the murder of 13-year-old Matthew Margolies in 1984. He now writes for the Athens Banner-Herald in Georgia. (To sign up for free, local breaking news alerts from more than 100 Connecticut communities click here.)

"In recent years I've used Go Fund Me accounts as an incredible way to get people the help they need, most recently helping a family raise reward money as they are helping the police find their their brother's murderer," Johnson said. "I never expected that I would one day be asking for financial assistance for myself and family."

Johnson's medical bills have been mounting after spending weeks in an inpatient rehabilitation program to help him regain use of his body. His family also hit a stream of back luck in 2008 after every member of his family needed surgery or another medical procedure.

"When treatments do begin I will be working fewer than 40 hours a week because of time spent in treatment, further squeezing the income stream," Johnson wrote on his GoFundMe page. "We love our home and I hope to still be there when my daughter graduates from high school in 6 short years."

The GoFundMe page can be found here.

Image via GoFundMe