A high school athlete with a promising football career, Dion Johnson faced one of life’s greatest adversities, quadriplegia, but went on to reach for the stars and to inspire those whose lives he touched. Dion’s childhood dreams of becoming a professional football player vanished during a 1993 high school championship game. Caught in a pile-up of players, Dion sustained a spinal cord injury that paralyzed him from the neck down.

Following the tragic accident that left him a quadriplegic, Dion became a patient at NRH, where his personal determination became evident to his clinical team and inspired other patients he met. In 1995, Dion graduated with his high school class, despite months of hospitalization and therapy. While he was a patient at NRH, Bowie State University awarded him a full athletic scholarship that enabled Dion to receive a bachelor’s degree in communication in May 1999.

Sadly, Dion passed away in August 1999 after heat stroke overcame him. His inspiration and courage now live on through the Dion Johnson Foundation, a memorial fund established by his loving family, friends, and associates.