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A colon cancer survivor gave Kanye West‘s Yeezy Boost 350 shoe the best endorsement ever. Steve “Scuba” Johnson says that the sneaker provided him with the best comfort of any shoe he’s owned while battling the physically debilitating disease.

Johnson, known for selling his Scuba Steve apparel, was diagnosed with cancer and endured several bouts of chemotherapy treatment which caused his feet to severely blister. As he shares in revealing detail with The Kiel Colon Cancer Foundation’s Tell The Tale series, Johnson essentially ended his love affair with Nike to move over to West’s signature line for adidas.

From Tell The Tale:

Battle: What effect did colon cancer have on your everyday life and your family?

Johnson: It affected my life completely. The agony I experienced before and after being diagnosed was so severe that I couldn’t walk, sit, or use the restroom without severe pain and bleeding. I was no longer able to wear light-colored pants or shorts because of the severe bleeding. The pain coming from the abdominal and rectal area was just unbearable. I sell t-shirts at festivals, and I remember bleeding everywhere and trying to not make it visible to my customers. I was unable to urinate because of the bleeding from my backside, so the urine would build up and cause my stomach to hurt. The pain caused me to not be myself at work. I am usually happy, energetic, and I love interacting with my customers, but now I had to just sit in the corner as the people browse my merchandise. It hurt to talk, breathe, sit and basically live. By Week 4 of radiation, I had 3rd degree burns on my pelvic area. From Week 4-8, my friend Billy had to come over and help me clean up my vomit and help me move around because, physically, I couldn’t do it for myself. I was unable to walk because my feet were all blistered up from chemo, so I wore my adidas Yeezy 350 Boost, which I credit to saving my feet.

Read the rest of Johnson’s moving story by following this link. There also images from the series on the following pages.

Photo: Kiel Colon Cancer Foundation/Tell The Tale

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