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To the Gaming Community,
We are Sandy and Gary Barker. Our oldest son, Christian, was like any other child. He filled his time with video games, soccer, computing and just generally having fun. In May 2006, just one day after Christian turned 13, he was diagnosed with a very rare orphan disease known as hapo-diploid chromosome acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
There are about 8-10 diagnoses per year in the United States of this disease. It is extremely aggressive and resistant to treatment. We were told his only hope of survival was a full bone marrow transplant (BMT). Where do you take your child when they have a disease that most facilities don't even know about? After researching hospitals all over the United States, we chose Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and Sandy moved there with Christian to begin treatment. What we didn't realize was that our family's separation would last for 1.5 years; although that bone marrow donor, our other son Garrett, was a good match, Christian relapsed 3 times and he went on to need a second BMT, to no avail.
Christian's journey was indescribably brutal and he spent over 16 months in the hospital. During his inpatient time, he would play his DS and try to forget about the nausea, chemo and pain. He played video games with other cancer kids and we would see a glimpse of the "normal boy" he was under the IVs, meds, transfusion and chemo bags that followed him everywhere. I cherish the smile we would see when he was able to forget about his pain while playing a game. All of the kids loved playing these games because it brought some fun into their isolated, painful lives.
Christian passed on Dec. 29, 2007 with us at his bedside; he was only 14. In the year since, we have been working to help other kids and families with this disease and have learned so many disturbing facts about orphan diseases. Most significantly, we discovered that few companies finance research on these diseases and most of the public is unaware of the terrible impact that they have on children's lives.
It gives me new hope to know that gamers can donate/buy games and help raise funds to research the many orphan diseases in the world, while doing something they love, just like Christian and his games. We need the funds to find cures and create caring networks, and this will help us make that happen.
Thank you for supporting our efforts!
Sandy, Gary, ^^Christian^^, Garrett and Kendall Barker
www.caringbridge.org/visit/christianbarker
We are Sandy and Gary Barker. Our oldest son, Christian, was like any other child. He filled his time with video games, soccer, computing and just generally having fun. In May 2006, just one day after Christian turned 13, he was diagnosed with a very rare orphan disease known as hapo-diploid chromosome acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
There are about 8-10 diagnoses per year in the United States of this disease. It is extremely aggressive and resistant to treatment. We were told his only hope of survival was a full bone marrow transplant (BMT). Where do you take your child when they have a disease that most facilities don't even know about? After researching hospitals all over the United States, we chose Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and Sandy moved there with Christian to begin treatment. What we didn't realize was that our family's separation would last for 1.5 years; although that bone marrow donor, our other son Garrett, was a good match, Christian relapsed 3 times and he went on to need a second BMT, to no avail.
Christian's journey was indescribably brutal and he spent over 16 months in the hospital. During his inpatient time, he would play his DS and try to forget about the nausea, chemo and pain. He played video games with other cancer kids and we would see a glimpse of the "normal boy" he was under the IVs, meds, transfusion and chemo bags that followed him everywhere. I cherish the smile we would see when he was able to forget about his pain while playing a game. All of the kids loved playing these games because it brought some fun into their isolated, painful lives.
Christian passed on Dec. 29, 2007 with us at his bedside; he was only 14. In the year since, we have been working to help other kids and families with this disease and have learned so many disturbing facts about orphan diseases. Most significantly, we discovered that few companies finance research on these diseases and most of the public is unaware of the terrible impact that they have on children's lives.
It gives me new hope to know that gamers can donate/buy games and help raise funds to research the many orphan diseases in the world, while doing something they love, just like Christian and his games. We need the funds to find cures and create caring networks, and this will help us make that happen.
Thank you for supporting our efforts!
Sandy, Gary, ^^Christian^^, Garrett and Kendall Barker
www.caringbridge.org/visit/christianbarker
