Wes Johnson, the actor whose voice permeates Bethesda's RPGs like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim, has addressed fans and friends as he recovers from being found "barely alive" in his hotel room last week.
The actor had travelled to Atlanta, where he was scheduled to host a benefit event for the National Alzheimer's Foundation. But when he didn't appear at the event, his wife Kim Johnson phoned the hotel where he was staying, where security discovered him unconscious, and medical technicians struggled to find a pulse. A GoFundMe page for Johnson's medical bills revealed he had been placed in a coma. Johnson has since emerged from that coma, as he explains in a video uploaded to the GoFundMe page:
"Rumours of my demise. Well, they weren't exaggerated. It was very close. Very close," Johnson says in the video. "But I'm still here. I'm still here because my wife decided to call the hotel where I was staying, doing announcing for the Alzheimer's association, and had my son call security [to] find out that I was nearly dead. They took me to the hospital, put me in a coma."
Johnson's GoFundMe was put together by his wife and friends Bill Glasser and Shari Elliker, and has thus far raised $175,413. "I found out there's a lot of love in this world I didn't know was out there. And I'm grateful to each and every one of you." Johnson also thanks the National Alzheimer's association for helping his family get to Atlanta, and Ted Leonsis, chairman of the parent company for the Washington Capitals (for which Johnson is the announcer) for donating $25,000 to the GoFundMe.
"I love you all. And I'm not going anywhere. It's going to be a while as I work my way back. But I'm coming back. I look forward to seeing you very soon."
Johnson has had a wide-ranging acting career, including roles on TV shows like Veep and The Wire, as well as radio broadcasting and his announcement work for the Capitals. But he's best known in the gaming community for lending his voice to Bethesda RPG characters like Lucien Lachance, the cheese-loving god Sheogorath, and of course, all of Oblivion's Imperial guards. Donations to Johnson's GoFundMe can be made here.
