While many families were preparing Thanksgiving dinner in 2024, Johnny Nahas was being wheeled into an operating room for emergency brain surgery.
Just hours earlier, the 28-year-old Port Washington native had learned that a tumor was growing on his brainstem — a life-threatening diagnosis that would set him on a yearlong journey through surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and recovery.
Today, roughly a year later, Nahas is cancer-free, back at work at his family’s flooring business and channeling his experience into an effort to help others facing similar battles.
“I probably had a week or two left if it hadn’t been caught,” Nahas said. “Everything just happened exactly when it needed to.”
Nahas first went to the hospital the day before Thanksgiving after weeks of unusual headaches, nausea and vomiting. He had largely brushed off the symptoms until his mother urged him to get checked while his grandmother was already at the emergency room for an unrelated issue.
An MRI revealed a 2.8-centimeter mass on the left side of his brainstem. Doctors told him it needed to be removed immediately.
Surgery was scheduled for Thanksgiving morning.
The procedure lasted eight to nine hours. When Nahas woke up, he was able to speak and move — outcomes doctors could not guarantee given the tumor’s location.
“That was the biggest blessing,” he said. “My speech was vulnerable. My left side was vulnerable. None of that was taken from me.”
The tumor was sent to pathology, and on Dec. 11 doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center confirmed it was cancer: medulloblastoma, a rare and aggressive brain tumor most commonly diagnosed in children.
“It was shocking,” Nahas said. “I was 27. This is considered a pediatric brain cancer.”
Beginning in January 2025, Nahas underwent 31 rounds of proton radiation therapy, followed by four intensive rounds of chemotherapy that required multiple overnight hospital stays. He completed treatment July 4.
Three months later, scans showed no remaining cancer.
Throughout his treatment, Nahas said he leaned heavily on his family, friends and his girlfriend — now his fiancée — but also on nonprofit organizations that helped ease the financial strain by covering expenses such as rent.
“They saved my life in a different way,” he said. “They allowed me to focus on one thing and one thing only: fighting.”
After quietly finishing chemotherapy, Nahas shared his story publicly for the first time in a July 4 Instagram post. The response was immediate. Encouraged by his father, who owns Nahas Flooring Co., Nahas began thinking about how to give back using the family business as a platform.
Founded by his great-grandfather in 1927, Nahas Flooring Co. specializes in the installation and supply of high-quality flooring for both residential and commercial properties. Based on Long Island, the company offers a range of products including hardwood, laminate, vinyl, and carpet, and provides full-service installation handled by its experienced team.
The company had long produced branded T-shirts that Nahas casually shared with friends. This time he decided to sell them.
The redesigned shirts feature the company logo alongside a cancer ribbon, with proceeds benefiting pediatric brain cancer research and foundations that support patients and families. Nahas said he worked with a his friend, Zach Avazis, to design the shirt. The company’s website also accepts standalone donations, with 100% of contributions going directly to those causes.
“I didn’t want cancer to define me,” Nahas said. “But I realized I could use what I went through to help people who are going through it now.”
Kimberly Nahas, Johnny’s sister, said Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center helped ease Johnny through the process of medical bills and personal finances.
“Through his treatments, while he was undergoing treatment, he was supported by a handful of nonprofits that support individuals diagnosed with brain cancer, and the way that those organizations supported him was by paying his rent so that he could focus solely on fighting and not have to worry about the financial burden of rent,” Kimberly said.
Some foundations in particular that helped Johnny were Brian’s Foundation of Hope, which helped him pay his rent, and the 76 Foundation.
Nahas returned to work this fall, installing floors alongside his father — work he said he missed deeply during treatment. He now lives in Glen Cove with his fiancée but spent much of his recovery at his parents’ home in Port Washington.
“There was something comforting about being home,” he said.
As he looks ahead, Nahas said his priorities are clear: growing the business, raising money for research and supporting organizations that lift the burden for families facing devastating diagnoses.
“I’m only six months out from chemo, so everything still feels new,” he said. “But what won’t change is this — as long as I’m alive, I’m going to give back.”
For Nahas, the mission is simple and deeply personal.
“The research saved my life,” he said. “Now I want to help save someone else’s.”
To learn more about Johnny Nahas’ journey and to donate, visit nahasapparel.myshopify.com.
