Acclaimed Newsweek reporter and lymphoma survivor Jamie Reno featured HDSA-San Diego president Bill Johnston and his wife Ramona's struggle with HD in a story titled “In sickness and in health” in the May 2007 issue of San Diego Magazine. Here’s how the story begins:

 

“BILL AND RAMONA JOHNSTON, both San Diego County natives, went to Helix High School together in La Mesa in the 1970s. They weren’t high school sweethearts, but it wasn’t for lack of trying on Bill’s part.”

 

“‘Mona was a cheerleader. She was cute and smart and nice,’ Bill recalls. ‘I tried everything I could to convince her I was the one for her. We had a few dates, but she just wasn’t that interested.’ When they met up again in a class at San Diego State University a few years later, he convinced her to give him another chance. This time, it clicked. They fell in love and were married in 1983.”

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