Young Blue Jays fan, whose last wish was trip to Dunedin, has died

Wes Johnson, a 17-year-old boy from St. Thomas, was born with congenital heart disease and dealt with other health conditions

Published May 08, 2026  •  Last updated 18 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Wes Johnson, a 17-year-old boy from St. Thomas, was able to fulfil his dying wish of meeting the Blue Jays at spring training in Dunedin, Fla., in March. Photo by Jennah Johnson / Handout /GoFundMe

A young Blue Jays fan, who took a dream trip to see his favourite baseball team play and meet players in Dunedin during spring training when he had just weeks to live, has died.

Wes Johnson, a 17-year-old boy from St. Thomas, Ont., who was born with a congenital heart disease and dealt with other health conditions, passed away Friday morning.

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Sportsnet baseball broadcaster Jamie Campbell shared the sad news on social media.

“Many of you contributed financially to get Wes Johnson to Florida in March,” Campbell wrote on X. “I’m forever grateful to all who helped.”

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Campbell helped promote an online fundraising campaign that fulfilled one of Johnson’s final wishes back in February.

The dying teen had spent the past three years waiting for a heart transplant in Toronto, but another condition called protein-losing enteropathy and failing kidneys ended that option.

Sadly, there was nothing else that doctors could do to improve his health and save his life. He was given weeks to live and sent home in December for palliative care.

The boy’s mother said a right match never became available while he was on the waiting list for a new organ.

“The team did all it could, but unfortunately, there’s not a store where you can go buy a heart. You need donors,” Jennah Johnson told the Toronto Sun in February.

The Johnson family, clockwise from top left: Jennah, Johnny, Maverick-Liam, Wes, and Oakley. Photo by SUPPLIED /Jennah Johnson

“We don’t have enough donors for the organs that we require. And there just wasn’t one of the right size or blood type that came in at the right time for him.”

The family, which includes father Johnny Johnson and brothers Maverick-Liam and Oakley, raised nearly $48,000 on GoFundMe and booked a trip to Florida for the second week of March.

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On March 10, he met many Blue Jays players and posed for photos with George Springer, Daulton Varsho, Addison Barger, Trey Yesavage, and Davis Schneider.

Wes told his mother that meeting the team “was the best day of his life.”

Wes Johnson, a St. Thomas teen with weeks to live, met several Toronto Blue Jays stars including George Springer during spring training in Florida on March 10, 2026. Photo by Jennah Johnson / Handout /GoFundMe

Unfortunately, the teen’s health declined significantly two days later and the family made the decision to cut the trip short because they didn’t have the right medication if he deteriorated any further.

“Although it will be a day shorter than we thought, it seriously was a trip of a lifetime,” his mother wrote on GoFundMe at the time. “He cried happy tears on the field that day.”

According to the GoFundMe campaign, Wes volunteered at Sick Kids with the hospital’s Patient Advisory Counsel while he waited for a new heart, and he graduated high school a semester early with honours.

Wes also took to social media to help raise money for non-profits that meant the most to him, his mother said.

— with files from Brian Towie

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