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children's hospital oakland

Sleepless in San Francisco: Extra-Life 2013!

November 7, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

So….Extra-Life. I’m still not sure what to tell you about it, other than the fact that it was one of the most awesome experiences of my life. A bunch of my friends crammed into the apartment and played games. For 25 hours.

That’s easy, you say. I do that all the time, you say. Well…I said the same thing, and it’s not as easy as it sounds

(Image via Extra-Life.org)

I’ve been recovering all week. I’m still recovering. I cannot tell you what time it is for the life of me. This marathon is hard, exhausting, mind shattering…and totally worth it. You get to do something you love, and help children who really need it all at the same time.

When you think about people who run, walk, or bike, marathons, they all train and prepare before hand. If gamers were smart, they would too!

Ok, maybe gamers are smart and I just wasn’t….or I and half of my team weren’t. Going to bed at 12:30am when you have to be up at 8 and stay up for 25 hours…who would have thought that was a bad idea?

In any case. We got little sleep, woke up, stayed up all day and night, and had a blast. We a little ADHD with our games…with 6 of us in the apartment and only so much bandwidth and so many computers, we had to switch around and be creative.

Some of the video games on our playlist were: Arkham Origins (of course), World of Warcraft, Borderlands 2, Arkham City, Saints Row 4, Star Wars Kinect, Halo 4, and Castle Crashers. I was even convinced by a friend to buy Diablo 3 (that did not take much convincing at all).

We also threw in some board and card games such as Legendary (the Marvel version), Seven Dragons, Fluxx, and Betrayal at the House on the Hill (pictured above).

The board games were helpful to get us talking and interacting, which provided some chance to wake up. The Kinect was also helpful at waking us up, and also provided a chance to get moving.

My roommate also streamed the entire thing live, so everyone and anyone could have a chance to see us acting crazy. At around 2 in the morning, this happened:

We lost our minds. At one point, one of my teammates said she was Geordi Picard. We also created a Captain Dragon song, sung to the tune of Captain Planet. We were silly, and loopy, and it was the most fun I’ve had in a while.

Then around…4 or 5am, we really started to crash. While playing Castle Crashers, I kept button mashing and it started to lull me to sleep. I couldn’t focus on which character on the screen was mine. My teammate literally started to nod off sitting up with the controller in her hand. Her character just kept running into the right hand wall until we woke her up.

She still had a better score than I did.

Once it was over, we all crashed and slept for half of the day…and then had a full night’s sleep that night. And yet…I don’t think any of us have caught up on sleep. I probably never will.

I still say it’s worth it. We helped a lot of kids, had a lot of fun, and created a lot of memories.

My team of 7 (6 here in California, and 1 in New York) weren’t very organized, but we raised nearly $2,000 for Children’s Hospital Oakland.

At the end of the 25 hours, Children’s Oakland won an extra $60,000 from the Diablo 3 challenge for having raised the most money. I think it’s at $333,000 now.

(Image via Extra-Life.org)

The total at the end of the marathon for all of Extra-Life was $3.4 million dollars. That’s up to $3.8 million today, with a make up day this Saturday for all those who missed some time…

Or for those who want to sign up now and do the whole thing.

All I know is…I did my 25 hours, helped some kids, played some games…and now it’s time to start getting ready for next year. Registration starts in February.

You know you want to join me.

Extra-Life: Empowering Ourselves Through Healing Kids

September 4, 2013 · Discuss on the GT Forum

Last month I attended GaymerX, an LGBTQ gaming convention in San Francisco. While it isn’t the focus of this post, the experiences I had were amazing and refreshing. They gave me enough material to write multiple posts just on that con itself (and maybe I will!)

The focus of this post, however, is about something I discovered at that convention, and it’s something that has changed my life and given me a drive that I didn’t know I had.

At GaymerX I discovered Extra Life, a 25 hour video game marathon to benefit Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. At the convention, there was a woman taking down information for those interested in signing up to benefit Children’s Hospital Oakland here in California. Little did she know that this particular hospital held so much meaning for me.

When I was 12 years old I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I was so far gone from complications that I was in their pediatric ICU for a week, and then in a regular room for another week. The care I was given was the best hospital care I have ever seen (and I have been to multiple hospitals for various visits or appointments); Children’s is tailor made for these little patients.

So when I heard that there is a fundraising event that involves video games, and benefits the hospital that was responsible for saving my life? Of course I had to say yes!

Rules of the Game

There’s another piece to this that made it a perfect fit. See, I’m not the most…athletic…of people. I get winded walking up the hill to my apartment building, so running a marathon is out of the question for me. Not only is it a charity that benefits my hospital, and that involves something I enjoy doing, but it is something that I can actually accomplish!

It’s so simple: Just sign up to play video games from 8am Nov. 2nd to 8am on the 3rd (Daylight Savings gives us the extra hour to play!). Then annoy all your friends and family by asking them to donate $1 an hour ($25) until you reach your fundraising goal ($200 will get you a T-shirt). Next, play games all day on the day of the event! Any game you want, any place you want.

Extra Life makes it easy, fun, and safe to participate! On their site they even have tips to make it through the 25 hours. Here are a few:

1. Get up and move around every hour

2. Drink plenty of fluids and make sure to eat meals

3. If you can’t make it through all 25 hours, don’t worry! You can make up the hours another time.

3…2…1…Go!

These may seem simple, but it is the small details that are important to remember. Children’s Hospital has been doing this for decades. They remember small things like how having good bedside manner can help improve mood. This, in turn, helps recovery and adjustment back to life as an adolescent whose whole life has been turned upside down.

Simple changes make it possible to transform a whole experience, like involving the gaming community in their own unique style of marathon.

This has given me the drive to do everything I can to support this charity and make sure the hospital receives as much help as it can. It can make all the difference to know that you can actually participate, and that it will impact so many lives in need (as I experienced first hand).

Also, how could you not feel empowered by logos and promotional material like this:

With this new found drive, I’ve recruited my fiance and my friends to start a team, called Rare Candy, to raise even more money for the hospital. I’ve also recruited my nephew, who is probably even more excited than I am. He’s had a boost to his self-esteem (much like myself) in knowing that he can make a difference doing something that comes easily to him.

He’s also planning on spending most of the 25 hours playing World of Warcraft with me and teaching me how to tank (I got him into the game, and now he’s teaching me…? Hrmph!)

Now for the shameless plug part…

(I promise I won’t hate you if you stop here, but please continue reading)!

If this post has inspired you to seek more information (you can just look around or join to benefit any Children’s Miracle Network Hospital nationwide), check out: http://www.extra-life.org

If you’d like to join my team, Rare Candy, to raise money for Children’s Hospital Oakland:
http://www.extra-life.org/team/rarecandy

To donate and sponsor me: http://www.extra-life.org/participant/larataylor

And remember, it’s all for the children!

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