Johnson was diagnosed with a rare pediatric bone cancer when she was just 14 years old.
“In late May, my leg was hurting a lot,” she told the talk-show host via video chat for the program’s at-home edition. “I’d gotten in a ski accident a few years before that. So, I thought it was some pain left over from that. But it kept getting worse, and it was worse than any pain that I had ever felt.
So, I went and got an MRI, and the results were abnormal. So, the day after my eighth-grade graduation, I had to go to the City of Hope to get a biopsy and that day we discovered that it was cancer.”
“I had to social distance throughout that because of my low blood count,” the teen from Pasadena, Calif. continued. “So, in a way, it prepared me for this because at times when I wanted to see my family and friends I couldn’t see my family and friends.”
Thankfully, Johnson is now “feeling great.”
“A week after the [viral] video, I went back to [Children’s Hospital Los Angeles], and I got some scans and they were all clear. So, I’m cancer free,” she said.
Johnson also said she’s a “huge fan” of DeGeneres and that she and her parents, April and Kelly, had actually applied for tickets to her show. They got some for April 1. However, the show was postponed due to the global coronavirus pandemic. DeGeneres then revealed she had something special up her sleeve.
“Not only are you coming back to see the show when we come back, but we’re upgrading. You’re going to come to one of the 12 Days of Giveaways shows. That would be a better show to come to,” the 62-year-old star said.
In addition, DeGeneres donated $25,000 to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in Johnson’s name, courtesy of Shutterfly.