A Gaming Prescription for Brett

I was born with a rare disorder related to how my body stores cholesterol. It's like I'm allergic to fat. The condition affects my liver and makes me sick a lot. For months, I had infusions every other week at Children's National, even though we live far away. It was the only place within 200 miles that had what I needed. At first, those trips were gloomy and long. The pokes and 5-hour infusions were hard to sit still through. I missed out on things at school and with my friends.

Then I met Mike, the hospital's gaming tech. Mike and I would build things like a parkour course in Minecraft and have wild races during my infusions. With Mike, I could forget I was tied up to a machine getting pumped full of medicine for five hours. He really gets me and is like a best friend. We both love gaming (I mean, really love it).

Playing games during my infusions made something hard feel more like something special. My mom didn't have to beg me to get ready to go anymore. I'd be waiting in the car for her. It was like, we’re not going to the hospital for infusions, we're going to the hospital to play with Mike.