Promoted from our community blogs
[Extra Life’s Game Day weekend should be almost upon us when I get this promotion pushed out. So just in case you have some sort of trouble finding it in the body of the post, be sure to check out Walt’s twitch channel on November 7th and offer words of encouragement to hold his bladder in as he marathons Final Fantasy VII for charity!]
This weekend for Extra Life Game Day 2015, my friend Walt will be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for longest marathon of a Final Fantasy game, and he’ll be doing it live on the Internet.
YOU are invited to watch!
Here’s the story from his Extra Life page:
Dear Friends, Family, Strangers, and Moogles,
If you know me, you may know that I spent a lot of time as a sick kid. The majority of my early teens were a constant battle against chronic osteomyelitis – a bone infection that took over my left wrist, killing sections of my left radius and leaving only a spongy mass in the place of healthy bone. After several years, multiple surgeries, and too many different antibiotics to count, we finally beat it and I haven’t had a flare-up since.
I was treated by the UVA Children’s Hospital – they took our case regardless of my family’s ability to pay, they worked tirelessly on a way to cure me… and most importantly, they helped a scared kid feel like everything was going to be okay. It wasn’t until years later that I found out that if my final treatment didn’t work, the only option left was amputation – I literally owe my left hand to the doctors and staff at UVA.
That part of my life may be over, but the hospital still treats thousands of sick kids every year – kids facing scary stuff like cancer, cystic fibrosis, and injuries from accidents, to name just a few. I decided it was time for me to give something back, so other kids will have a better chance of receiving the treatment I received – and I need your help.
Extra Life is a huge worldwide celebration of the social impact of gamers of all kinds, from video games to board games and tabletop RPGs, that has raised more than $14 million to help Children’s Miracle Network hospitals provide critical treatments and healthcare services, pediatric medical equipment, research and charitible care. They sponsor a worldwide, 24-hour game day when gamers everywhere marathon the games of their choice in support of the kids. Extra Life seems like a fitting way for me to support my hospital, since without them I wouldn’t be able to play video games nearly as easily as I can now.
I’ve only donated and watched in the past – since this is my first year as an active Extra Life participant, I wanted to do something special. So…
On Extra Life Day, November 7, 2015, starting at 8am EST, I am going to break the Guinness World Record for longest marathon of a Final Fantasy game.
The current record stands at 38 hours, 6 minutes. My aim is to crush it, playing for at least 42 hours straight. I’ll be streaming the whole thing live on my Twitch channel, so all of you can join me to watch or offer words of encouragement there:
http://www.twitch.tv/waltapr
I hope that you’ll find it in your heart to support my efforts with a monthly pledge or one-time gift that will go directly to my hospital. Your donation is tax-deductible and ALL PROCEEDS go to help kids.
There are other ways to help, as well. If you’re in my local area, I’ll need a support team to help me with the marathon – Guinness requires constant witnesses for the world record attempt, so I’ll need folks to hang out and get me water, time my bathroom breaks, answer the door for the pizza guy, or just talk to me and help keep me awake. If you’re interested, contact me directly and we’ll iron out those details in the coming months.
But in the end, this isn’t for me – it’s FOR THE KIDS. If this stunt of mine helps raise awareness for them, it’s worth it. Please help me help them and make a safe, easy donation online today. Click the “Support Me” button on this page to get started. Thank you so much for supporting my efforts, and I look forward to you joining me on November 7.
– Walt
If everything goes according to plan, he should be breaking the record late Sunday night (Gaming for only 24 hours? Amateurs.) Walt will be supported in his mission by the Airport Road crew, as well as our cross-town podcast rivals and arch-nemeses at RIJcast. We’ll also be recording a few podcasts at various times during the record attempt, and we’ll probably be blathering about random nerd shit the whole time in order to keep Walt awake. It’s going to be fun!
Donations will go to the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital. If you have any money to spare for the sick shorties please consider throwing them a few bucks! Even if you can’t donate, please spread the word about the record attempt so Walt has plenty of people watching his slow descent into sleep-deprived madness. Watch this unfold starting at 8 am Eastern at Twitch.tv/WaltAPR!
Oh, and subscribe to Airport Road: the Podcast if you want to hear grown men argue about geeky shit.
<3, Mxy
