Wyatt Wheeler/News-Leader
Chanelle Johnson promised herself when she started to have kids at an early age that she wouldn’t make one kid take care of another.
Although the single mother of seven didn’t want them to have that responsibility, her oldest son, Alize Johnson, grew into that role anyways.
She said to his siblings, he’s more than just a brother.
“They see him more as a dad,” Chanelle said. “They genuinely admire the kid. They look up to him as more than a brother.”
Alize, the Missouri Valley Preseason Player of the Year, grew up half his life without a father or a male role model.