MD Patient Seeks to Launch YouTube Gaming Channel To Advocate For the Disease
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Muscular dystrophy patient Robert Ryan is a launching a Youtube channel dedicated to his fight against the disease, called “The Vidiot,” the name his uncle gave him when they started playing video games together. Both suffer from muscular dystrophy, and since Ryan spends most of his time in a wheelchair with little mobility, playing video games offered empowerment.
Ryan was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, one of the most severe forms of the disease, when he was only four years old after he experienced fatigue and enlarged calf muscles. Other members of his family also suffer from the genetic disease, which causes muscle weakness and loss of muscle tissue. His uncle Phil helped him cope with the disease by introducing him to the gaming world.
“’Vidiot’ was a play on words, which is what my uncle was known for. It meant that I was obsessed with video games,” Ryan said. And since they were so close, Ryan decided now to also name his Youtube channel as “The Vidiot.” “The experience of living with Muscular Dystrophy, losing loved ones to it, and seeing others struggle with it are all a part of what makes gaming so meaningful to me,” said Ryan.
His Youtube channel will feature game play, game reviews and other gaming videos, as well as discussions on the disease as a way of raising awareness about how it affects the body and what can be done. “I plan on doing my own charity live streams for the Muscular Dystrophy Association from time to time as a way to give back to the people that provided me with so much help,” Ryan added.
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The DMD patient is also looking for funding to purchasing all of the equipment needed for the Youtube channel in order to start the Youtube channel. Ryan has already raised $1,415 from the $5,000 he needs using the website kickstarter.com. “Even if you can’t give, I would love to see you share this message, so that I can have a fighting chance at sharing my story and my dream with the rest of the world,” he asks.
Robert is currently active on Twitter as part of his effort to promote his crowdfunding campaign. Follow him at @TheVidiotGamer. Donations can be made to his crowdfunding project here:
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