News Bot
10-17-2008, 10:00 AM
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Once upon a time there was a young boy who loved video games, football and riding his bike. The youth spent his days doing what most kids do; playing with his friends, getting into mischief and dreaming grandiose dreams about the future. Then, when he reached the end of his teens, he got sick…really sick. He didn’t have football, or a bike to ride anymore. He did have his video games though. Secret worlds where adventures can be had, where enemies can be defeated and where everyone can be a hero.
Find out why being a hero is so important after the jump!
I’d would like to say before I go on that friends and family make all the difference in the world. They lend you that extra bit of strength when you need it, and they can make you smile.
Now, I was “fortunate” enough to have fallen ill as an adult. Not that any amount of age can prepare you for living in and out of hospitals, just that I truly am grateful that I was allowed to have my childhood, imperfect though it may have been. I’m not going to go into detail about my myriad of health problems but suffice it to say I thought I was going to die at one point and now I live a pretty “normal” life, albeit at little more reserved than my healthy peers.
When you’re sick, you spend a lot of time alone. In between family and friends, doctors and tests, time begins to be a heavy burden. Whether you know you only have a little while left, or that your battle is just beginning, time sits like a whale on your back. Feeling helpless and not having anything you can actually touch or see to fight takes a lot out of a person.
Video games are what helped me through.
It’s funny but I can recall one day that I felt particularly awful, among the most trying days of my life. That’s not why I remember it so vividly though. That was the day I beat Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn. I struggled through that game, let me tell you, medicated and weak as I was, but I beat it all the same. I remember a nurse actually crying when she came into my room and found me laughing and smiling like a crazy man, she was so happy for me.
Other games like Fallout 2, Alpha Centauri, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and more filled my days with happiness, despite how bad I felt. I can’t say that I forgot I was sick when I played video games, but they made me feel powerful, heroic and brave. It’s nice to feel like a hero, to defeat the villain and collect your reward.
On the few occasions I encountered kids during treatment I came to realize that all it takes is the smallest spark of joy (be it a video game, movie, toy, music, family or friends) to change a child’s whole day, maybe their whole life. A spark they returned ten fold. Even if it’s only for a little while, watching a bunch of youngsters play games like Starcraft, or FreeSpace 2 for the first time and watching them actually laugh and cheer is, well…indescribable. If you think you’ve got game let me just say there are some youngsters sitting in the hospital right now who are so 1337 they don’t even speak English, they speak pwnage. I’ve seen gaming kids raise their chins and smile while enduring pain unimaginable to most people. Because that’s what heroes do. They savior the little moments, raise their chins and fight on.
I support a number of causes but incredible places like the Texas Children’s Hospital and others like it hold significant meaning to me.
On October 18th Extra Life will let me and many others do something truly great by doing what we all love to do; play video games. Help all of us who are taking part in Extra Life, if only for a breif moment, to be like all the sick kids who raise their chins and smile at the world…to be heroes.
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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~4/423785950
Click here to view the article. (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~3/423785950/extra-life-little-video-game-heroes.html)
Once upon a time there was a young boy who loved video games, football and riding his bike. The youth spent his days doing what most kids do; playing with his friends, getting into mischief and dreaming grandiose dreams about the future. Then, when he reached the end of his teens, he got sick…really sick. He didn’t have football, or a bike to ride anymore. He did have his video games though. Secret worlds where adventures can be had, where enemies can be defeated and where everyone can be a hero.
Find out why being a hero is so important after the jump!
I’d would like to say before I go on that friends and family make all the difference in the world. They lend you that extra bit of strength when you need it, and they can make you smile.
Now, I was “fortunate” enough to have fallen ill as an adult. Not that any amount of age can prepare you for living in and out of hospitals, just that I truly am grateful that I was allowed to have my childhood, imperfect though it may have been. I’m not going to go into detail about my myriad of health problems but suffice it to say I thought I was going to die at one point and now I live a pretty “normal” life, albeit at little more reserved than my healthy peers.
When you’re sick, you spend a lot of time alone. In between family and friends, doctors and tests, time begins to be a heavy burden. Whether you know you only have a little while left, or that your battle is just beginning, time sits like a whale on your back. Feeling helpless and not having anything you can actually touch or see to fight takes a lot out of a person.
Video games are what helped me through.
It’s funny but I can recall one day that I felt particularly awful, among the most trying days of my life. That’s not why I remember it so vividly though. That was the day I beat Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn. I struggled through that game, let me tell you, medicated and weak as I was, but I beat it all the same. I remember a nurse actually crying when she came into my room and found me laughing and smiling like a crazy man, she was so happy for me.
Other games like Fallout 2, Alpha Centauri, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and more filled my days with happiness, despite how bad I felt. I can’t say that I forgot I was sick when I played video games, but they made me feel powerful, heroic and brave. It’s nice to feel like a hero, to defeat the villain and collect your reward.
On the few occasions I encountered kids during treatment I came to realize that all it takes is the smallest spark of joy (be it a video game, movie, toy, music, family or friends) to change a child’s whole day, maybe their whole life. A spark they returned ten fold. Even if it’s only for a little while, watching a bunch of youngsters play games like Starcraft, or FreeSpace 2 for the first time and watching them actually laugh and cheer is, well…indescribable. If you think you’ve got game let me just say there are some youngsters sitting in the hospital right now who are so 1337 they don’t even speak English, they speak pwnage. I’ve seen gaming kids raise their chins and smile while enduring pain unimaginable to most people. Because that’s what heroes do. They savior the little moments, raise their chins and fight on.
I support a number of causes but incredible places like the Texas Children’s Hospital and others like it hold significant meaning to me.
On October 18th Extra Life will let me and many others do something truly great by doing what we all love to do; play video games. Help all of us who are taking part in Extra Life, if only for a breif moment, to be like all the sick kids who raise their chins and smile at the world…to be heroes.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/TheSarcasticGamer?i=bMtGVu (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/TheSarcasticGamer?a=bMtGVu)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=HlPRM (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=HlPRM) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=WQugM (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=WQugM) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=XA0zm (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=XA0zm) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=Z4LNm (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=Z4LNm) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=hLxiM (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=hLxiM) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=nZKgm (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=nZKgm) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=a2gOm (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=a2gOm) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=afpIM (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=afpIM) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?i=4KX2M (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/TheSarcasticGamer?a=4KX2M)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~4/423785950
Click here to view the article. (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheSarcasticGamer/~3/423785950/extra-life-little-video-game-heroes.html)