Charlize Theron and Milla Jovovich have joined many others in providing donations to help unwell celebrity hairstylist Johnnie Sapong and his family. The Mad Max: Fury Road and The Fifth Element actors joined others including The Hunger Game's Amandla Stenberg and black-ish's Tracee Ellis Ross in rallying around the hard-hit family.
On Saturday, June 10, Johnnie's son John took to the fundraising site GoFundMe in order to share his father's story and make a plea for help. According to his son's post, Johnnie – who has styled the hair of talent including Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Naomi Campbell and Lily Rose Depp – recently underwent emergency surgery to remove a tumor from his brain's pituitary gland.
© Getty Images"We feel so lucky that the surgery was successful and that we didn't lose him," John wrote. However, he continued: "His pituitary gland is dead, no longer able to function, he will be on medication for the rest of his life and will need regular MRI scans to check to make sure another tumor doesn't grow."
Explaining that his father's job as a freelance hairdresser (which has seen Johnnie work with publications including Vogue, Elle and Harper's Bazaar and pair with global brands such as Dior and Gucci) was his family's main source of income, John revealed the family would struggle paying their bills while he recovers.
"I don't want my mum and dad to be stressed about keeping a roof over our heads and food on the table for me and my brothers," John said. He continued: "I want my mum to be able to care for my dad and for my dad to take his time to recover fully and not feel that he has to rush back to work as soon as he can, because we are going to loose[sic] our house or car."
As a result, the family set up Johnnie's GoFundMe page in order to help them pay rent and medical bills with the generous donations of anyone who could help. Alongside well-wishers from the general public, Johnnie's celebrity friends have also chipped in significantly to help out.
© Getty ImagesAs previously mentioned, among many anonymous donations are ones from Charlize Theron, Milla Jovovich, and Amandla Stenberg. Other's have also taken to social media to also gain more attention for the Sapong family's fundraiser.
Tracee Ellis Ross wrote on Instagram: "@sapongjohnnie sending all the healing energy and love love love! Please support Johnnie and his family," before adding a link to the GoFundMe page. Conversations with Friends actress Sasha Lane wrote on Twitter: "Johnnie is the kindest hearted man I know and he has done my locs for years. His energy is unmatched. I’m thankful he’s alive but the journey to recovery won’t be easy," before again adding a link to the fundraiser.
© Getty ImagesUndoubtedly there is a lot of love for Johnnie across the world. So far, over 1,400 donations have been made to John's fundraiser, which at time of writing sits at $202,725 of its $250,000 goal. The fundraiser can be accessed here.
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