ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Ken Johnson, better known as Bills Mafia superfan Pinto Ron, never missed a Bills game before the pandemic.
He wasn't about to let a heart issue stop him either this past season, postponing a heart surgery from October to this month.
"He calls it a 'leaking valve' and I guess the valve was getting worse and worse so they told him they needed to repair it. He told them he could go under the knife after the Super Bowl because the Bills were supposed to be in the Super Bowl," said Danielle Johnson, Pinto Ron's daughter.
Unfortunately, her dad got a false positive COVID test.
He was unable to attend the Bills second playoff game this year, the first game he'd miss since 1994.
He then quarantined and got right back to it, attending the next one in Kansas City.
"It hurt me more that he couldn't keep the streak going than we couldn't go to the games. It made me think things were going to change. That's not the attitude he's had. The attitude he's had is I'm going to go to every game I can go to that allows fans and if that means the streak is still going," Danielle Johnson said.
As he waits for next season, the lifelong Bills fan finally had his heart surgery on Tuesday.
He's had a heart murmur since he was 27 and has gotten it checked out every five years, but it was time to get that leaking valve fixed.
Danielle says he's doing very well at Rochester General Hospital.
Because he's so well known in the community for his love of the Bills, the staff made sure to accessorize.
"They've all had their Bills caps on, one of the doctors had Bills socks on, they all had Bills masks on," she said. "He was talking to me. You wouldn't even know he had surgery. He said he was having a little bit of pain but that's to be expected and he still has chest tube in but that's to be expected too."
Pinto Ron got tons of messages wishing him well.
He sent a text to 2 On Your Side's Danielle Church thanking everyone, the messages helped him take his mind off the surgery.
Though he couldn't respond to everyone, he says he did read every message.
Danielle Johnson also shared the update with Bills Mafia on Facebook, though she says she never posts anything.
That's because she was so moved by all of the kind fans out there.
MORE TO WATCH: "Meet The Mafia"
Here's an episode of 2 On Your Side's Meet the Mafia series from 2018 talking a little bit about who Pinto Ron is.
