Community rallies around Pocatello Costco employee as he fights for his life
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Deanne Coffin, KPVI
POCATELLO – Friends of a local man are trying to raise money for him as he fights for his life at a Utah hospital.
Long time Costco employee John Bryant is currently at the University of Utah Neuro Critical Care Unit, while his family is by his side and friends and co-workers raise money to help him.
If you shop at Costco in Pocatello, John Bryant’s face and voice may be familiar to you.
“John is very outgoing. He will light up anybody’s day,” says Denise McGovern, Co-worker and Friend.
John has worked at Costco for several years.
“Somebody comes in, whether they know him or not, he knows them and he’ll always welcome them with a big smile and John’s very loud, so he might see you across the warehouse and make sure you know that he says to you and tells you hello,” says McGovern.
Last Sunday John had a headache and took some medicine for it. His wife later found him unconscious and he was air lifted to Salt Lake City.
He was diagnosed with a rare disease that is characterized by a brief but intense attack of inflammation in the brain and spinal cord and it frequently results in death.
“We’re all really sad. It’s heartbreaking. John has a young family,” says McGovern.
Co-workers say John’s done everything from cashier, to gas station supervisor and currently he’s the membership supervisor at Costco.
Co-workers have raised over $11 thousand dollars for him just since they started a ‘Go-Fund-Me’ account.
“John holds a very special place in my heart. He’s my supervisor here at Costco. I needed to do something because I know if it was any one of us, he would have done the same thing,” says Mersades Gallagher, Co-worker, Friend.
John currently is in a coma state at the University of Utah Neuro Critical Care Unit.
“All I can say is to everyone here, moving here, I’ve never seen so many people care about one person, and change so many lives and because you guys, like, thank you. You have no idea how much it means to the Bryant family,” says Gallagher.
Click here to donate to John’s Go-Fund-Me account.
This article was first published by KPVI. It is used here with permission.