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Quite a christmas story...

Their server is gettin pretty hammered, so im quoting the first post here:

I am posting this on behalf of my son whom you see coming to visit this great site as fruit_loops. My son is 13 years old and very sick. He wants to play paintball but his disease wouldn't allow him. His friends play paintball while he is left at home in the mercy of pain.

Ever since he registered with this great site, no day would pass without him checking what's new with paintball in Canada. He reads them, both of us actually, and finds fun in reading them. He loves clicking on the flags to change provincial locations. He boasts of being able to know what's happening in paintball in different provinces just by clicking the flags. He loves looking at your markers tirelessly in the showcase.

2 nights ago, he checked the Live Chat feature but I remember him saying nobody was online. Then suddenly "Welcome" was sounded from his speakers. It was the Support Crew. Then they started chatting. The guy from the other end asked him how he was doing and my little man answered, "I have a headache". I remember the guy asking him questions about how frequent his headache occurs, what type of pain, what his age was and whether he has seizures. My son answered them truthfully. Then, the guy asked him if he was taking medicines and if he is, what medicines were they. My son listed his medicines then suddenly the guy said ... "You must be very sick buddy. Are you on chemo?" I started to wonder, how come a computer guy can be conversant in the medical field, too. Their conversation became so interesting until the guy said: "Correct me if I'm wrong and you may not answer my question if you wish. Did your doctor tell you that your seizures is caused by meningioma?" That totally stopped my heart and my suspicion that he might be a medical professional was proven right. A computer guy knows medical diagnosis just by interviewing? I thought, only kids use this site.

The guy asked my son if he can ask permission from me to phone him. Thinking why not, I gave our number. We had a chat and he was such a nice guy. Changing topics, he asked what presents he received for Christmas. Then asked my son what he wanted that he didn't get. He replied: "xbox. My nintendo is too old". The guy casually said, you'll have it pretty soon, don't worry. My 13-year old kid replied: I will work for it when I get well.

About 1 'o clock this afternoon, a lady knocked on our door with a big gift nicely wrapped. I asked where it came from and she answered me: open the box when I leave. At the sight of the big present, my poor son whispered: "this is the biggest present I have ever received". The lady introduced herself as "Stacey". According to her, they got our address from our phone number then left while we were still at the door.

When we opened the present, it's an XBOX! I found myself lost in tears while my son was so amused. I thought it was from a relative. It came complete with everything he needs: a wireless router, a wireless xbox adapter, 2 wireless controllers, 2 headsets, a prepaid xbox Live subscription for 1 year and 10 DVD games. More tears flowed from my eyes, I will never afford to buy my son these stuff. A card was enclosed: "This must be your missing gift. I hope this takes some of your pain away. It's all wireless so you won't bother getting up just to play. A technician will come by your place and hook you up with high-speed internet and make sure that you will be playing your xbox before the day ends. Tell your mom not to worry about anything. I already created your Gamer Tag and I will play online against you soon. Be sure to beat me. Get well buddy. Be strong. I'll always remember you. Pdx.Sierra (xtremepaintballcanada.com)". He was the guy my son had a chat with and must be one of the Support Crew.

About 3 'o clock, the technician came and brought with him a high-speed modem and hooked my little man's xbox and fixed our computer. With just a phone call the technician made, we got upgraded from dial-up to broadband prepaid for one year. He played a game with him before he left. He requested to keep the identities of everyone involved.

I'm in tears. I definitely am. We will never forget your kindness, sir. Please call us back. Thank you thank you. May the Lord help you and keep you safe always.

To you all who participate in this site, thank you. You all help ease the pain and hardships my son is suffering day in and day out. Thank you. Happy holidays everyone.
 
did you read the replies? this guy does this frequently! :Q

people like him make the world go round day by day.... :heart:
 
Originally posted by: Amorphus
did you read the replies? this guy does this frequently! :Q

people like him make the world go round day by day.... :heart:

Yeah... not to mention he's a neurosurgeon AND a computer engineer. :Q
 
Geez... sounds like the kid is in tough shape. He went into a coma for a few hours yesterday and just came out of it this morning. He's still in critical condition, though.

It's so sad to think that just a couple days previous he was typing thank you messages to that thread, too. 🙁
 
Wow, that's really sweet! It's so cool that he used his connections as an Xbox game developer to help the poor kid out 🙂
 
Makes you realize whats really important doesn't it. With all the arguing and debating of all the issues of politics and morality that goes on here something like this really slaps you back to reality. Kinda puts it all into the proper perspective for me. Really illustrates how inconsequential many of the things we think are important really are. This is something worthwhile and important. Shame that sometimes a kid has to suffer this way just to remind us.
 
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