Darryl Johnson and his sister often would imagine taking off and touring Europe together. Perhaps as many had done for centuries before them, they would follow the long pilgrimage trail leading to the legendary tomb of St. James the Apostle in Spain.
It never happened.
As 34-year-old Holly Koz lay fighting for her life in February after undergoing a tricky kidney-pancreas transplant, Johnson made up his mind he would make the trip by himself.
He would not, however, go as a typical tourist.
“When we didn’t know if she was going to make it, something told me I had to make a pilgrimage for her to let her know how much I loved her and, hopefully, give her some encouragement,” Johnson, 33, said after returning to his home in Geneva recently from a monthlong hike through portions of France and Spain.
In honor of a sister who has battled the crippling effects of juvenile diabetes since she was a toddler, Johnson set out to hike the 500-mile trail through mountains and high plains and, at the same time, raise money in Holly Koz’s name for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.
Johnson asked Koz what she thought about it. Sure, she’d be honored. Then he sought whatever support he could get from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.
“He didn’t so much ask me what I thought, because he already had his mind made up,” said Koz from her parents’ home in Barrington, where she was recovering from what her family hopes is the last in a round of surgical procedures. “I was completely floored.”
The foundation routinely provides assistance to individuals and businesses who wish to sponsor fundraising activities, said Susan Mayber, manager of marketing, communications and public outreach for the Chicago chapter. But Johnson’s request was different.
“This was something brand new, and we’re pretty excited about it,” Mayber said.
Then Johnson asked his employer, Emilio’s Meson Sabika in Naperville, if the restaurant would help him put on a fundraising reception for people who pledged donations.
Food and drink are on us, they told Johnson, an employee of four years who has done everything from tend bar and wait tables to managing the restaurant.
While Johnson handed out brochures at the restaurant and asked for pledges from everybody he could think of, his parents, Joan and Dale Johnson, solicited donations from members of their Barrington church and called an insurance agency in the successful pursuit of a sponsorship.
So far their efforts have raised more than $11,000 for the foundation and, with a reception scheduled Nov. 4 at Meson Sabika, more cash is expected. Reservations are still being accepted at the restaurant at $50 a person or $75 a couple.
About 16 million people in the United States have some form of diabetes, including about 610,000 Illinois residents, according to statistics from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. In 1995, diabetes accounted for $4.27 billion in medical care and lost productivity in the state, and about 170,000 people nationwide will die of complications of diabetes this year.
Johnson began his journey in France on Aug. 14. Every day, save one, through Sept. 11 he hiked alone. Some days he covered 15 miles, others as many as 25. One day it poured, but mostly the sun shone on him.
On several days tendinitis gave him aching feet, but for the most part, the experience was nothing short of terrific.
“A lot of people were walking with blisters, but I wasn’t,” he said. “The only problem was at times I’d come across stray dogs. That was the biggest problem, that and boredom.
“I, of course, did this for myself and Holly, but this is an old medieval pilgrimage trail. In its heyday, hundreds of thousands of people did this every year, but though some people do it for religious purposes, now it’s more recreational or historical.”
Johnson has few health problems to worry about beyond sore feet, but Koz has suffered almost constant pain for more than three years. During that time she has become legally blind, she has suffered a broken hip, and much of her colon has been removed.
She has been hospitalized for pneumonia, suffered from nagging nausea and had to undergo kidney dialysis. She has undergone surgery five times since the transplant and has spent much of the past year in a wheelchair.
But next week, Koz, walking with the aid of only a cane, expects to return to her Round Lake home, basically for the first time in more than a year. Although the transplant means she is no longer insulin-dependent, Koz must take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life.
“I don’t take pain pills now to get through the day, so I’m definitely improving,” she said with a smile.
