Johny's mother loved him dearly, but she was concerned about how others viewed her son. He had large bulges on his face (encephalocele), which caused his eyes to be too wide apart. She knew the stigma it brought their family because his eyes were spaced twice what they should be.

Whenever she took him out of the house she put a bandage over his nose and cheeks so that people would think Johny had only injured his nose. At three-and-a-half, Johny recognized something was wrong. He had had several unsuccessful surgeries to correct the deformity. Johny's family was too poor to seek any further medical treatment, and besides, the surgery was too radical to be performed in their own country, Bolivia.

When Johny arrived at Denver's airport, he wore sandals on his sockless feet and his usual facial bandage. After several days of tests, x-rays, and nine hours of surgery, he wore his final bandage. Through the volunteer help of many, the deformity from the outgrowths of rudimentary brain was removed. Also gone was the blight to Johny and his family. The playful boy now had the chance to lead a more normal life through the efforts of Face the Challenge.