The beauty industry is coming together to support one of their very own during a very difficult time.
After celebrity hairstylist Johnnie Sapong recently underwent an emergency brain surgery to remove a brain tumor, many of his friends and colleagues in the beauty industry have rallied around him. Makeup artist Jillian Dempsey, men’s groomer Mira Chai Hyde, hairstylist Paul Percival, Electric Hair founder Mark Woolley, makeup artist Daniel Martin, and hairstylist Lacy Redway are among those who have taken to Instagram to raise awareness about Sapong’s situation as well as share the GoFundMe page that his son, Zion, created to support his recovery process.
An internationally-acclaimed hairstylist and groomer, Sapong is known for styling iconic ‘90s editorials starring OG supermodels such as Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and Carolyn Murphy. Not to mention, he’s also counted Lily Rose Depp, John Boyega, Kiera Knightly, and Meghan Markle as celebrity clients and currently serves as the brand ambassador for luxury haircare brand, Leonor Greyl.
The British hairstylist’s GoFundMe asks for $300,000, to cover his medical expenses as well as aid his family while he is on the mend. As of publication, more than $270,000 has been raised so far.
Sapong is currently in intensive care, according to Zion, who has detailed much of his dad’s journey in the GoFundMe post. In his moving message, he shared that his dad was rushed to the emergency room last week after experiencing a severe headache and blurred vision. Upon receiving an MRI scan, Sapong was revealed to have a pituitary tumor.
“Once we got to the hospital, the surgeon and neurologist team had reviewed the MRI scans and said they had found a large tumor on his pituitary gland, (a gland in the brain). It was pressing on his brain and optic nerve and it was bleeding,” he wrote. “The surgeon told us that this was a life threatening situation and we had to act fast. If we didn’t do the surgery tonight, straight away, he may completely lose his vision in both eyes and even worse, he could die, due to the internal bleeding! We had no choice but to send him into surgery that night at about 2am. I couldn’t risk losing my dad that night, but I knew he wouldn’t have wanted to be in that much pain for the rest of his life. They told us he may not survive the surgery, but the surgeon has never lost a patient doing this procedure before so he told my mum and I to be positive and to rest. He would be in the operating room for 4-5 hours. He went into surgery that night and they removed the tumor from his pituitary gland.”
Following the successful hours-long surgery, Sapong’s health currently remains under observation.
“We feel so lucky that the surgery was successful and that we didn’t lose him,” Zion wrote. “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. He is still in ICU and we are unsure how long he will [be] there. We are hoping to get him out of there soon so that he can recover at home with us.”
At the moment, Sapong’s family remains focused on supporting him through his recovery and not letting the escalating cost of healthcare in the U.S. impact him.
“As you all know my dad is a kind, amazing, talented man who loves his job as a freelance hairdresser and who works hard to support his family. He is the main source of income for our family. He is not going to be able to work. We don’t know how long for, how long it will take for him to get back to full health,” Zion continued. “We need your help! I don’t know how we are going to pay our rent and our bills and you all know that healthcare isn’t free in the U.S. and the medical bills are mounting. 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. 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 lose our house or car.”
At this time, our thoughts and well-wishes are with Sapong and his family. If you feel compelled to donate to Sapong’s GoFundMe page, be sure click here.
