SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio  — Rick Johnson said a routine test as a teen uncovered a medical condition, significantly changing his life.

What You Need To Know

  • Ohio BMVs are working with Lifebanc to expand the Green Chair Project, which began more than 20 years ago

  • Every nine minutes, 17 people die waiting for a life-saving organ transplant in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health

  • The project raises awareness of the organ shortage crisis in the United States and encourages visitors at license bureaus to register as organ donors

“So they did the physical and something came up wrong, a little protein in my urine,” Johnson said. “They needed me to see a specialist. He said, ‘By the time you’re 35 years old, you will be on dialysis.’”

As a second-year college student, Johnson went on dialysis for the first time, which was followed by two kidney transplant surgeries.

“One from one brother, my body rejected it,” he said. “Then I was back on dialysis, and then about five years later, I had the second transplant from my elder brother, and now I have his kidney for 41 years.”

Johnson shares his story with other people in the community, spreading awareness of organ donation and transplantation. As an organ shortage crisis persists across the United States, he isn’t the only person advocating for organ registry.

“I first met Rick in Amsterdam, which was a year after his second kidney transplant, and we were at the International Transplant Games,” Debbie May-Johnson said.

His wife of 37 years, Debbie May-Johnson, is the executive director of the Cleveland Eye Bank Foundation.

“I was already so passionate about this and could see the difference that an organ transplant or a tissue transplant or a corneal transplant can make in a person’s life,” she said.

May-Johnson worked for the Lifebanc for more than two decades, including during the launch of the Green Chair Project, which is now expanding to Ohio Bureau Motor Vehicles across the state.

Valerie Hart is deputy register field representative at the Ohio BMV in Shaker Heights. She is helping carrying out the project, where a green chair is placed to represent a loved one who died waiting for a transplant, to inspire visitors to become organ donors.

“Ten chairs and we have four more to go, so they’ll be throughout northeast Ohio with different license bureaus, and we’ll have them all done before the end of the year,” she said.

Hart said they’re partnering with Lifebanc to accomplish one goal.

“No family should have to see another chair empty,” she said.

As more than 100,000 Americans remain on the transplant waiting list, Johnson said his experience is unique.

“I was rather lucky how it happened for me because I had two brothers who were willing to offer me a kidney, but others, minorities that’s on dialysis, they just don’t have that comfort or they’re not offered that comfort,” he said.

Making a difference starts with signing up on the Ohio organ registry, the Johnsons said.

“Become a hero but also help others, such as myself, who’s benefited 41 years now with my transplant, to help others like me proceed with life,” Johnson said.

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Debbie May-Johnson's name. This error has been corrected. (Oct. 28, 2024)