
For the thousands of readers touched by Ezra Chatterton’s story, the 10-year-old boy who went from an ordinary kid to one with brain cancer within weeks is doing better, his father Micah tells me. Ezra is the ultimate Warcraft fan who used his wish from the Make-A-Wish Foundation to ask Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment if he could create some characters and weapons for the massively popular World of Warcraft game.
But shortly after his visit to Blizzard, treatment started and it was agony for Ezra and his parents. That was about three weeks ago.
“He’s doing much better than I expected,” Micah wrote me. “He’s not experiencing much pain or nausea from the chemo, and aside from an overwhelming fatigue, the radiation is having very few negative side effects. Also, his headaches and back pain (from the tumors in his spine) have not been an issue for the last week and a half. That’s not to say that, were he not on elephant-grade painkillers, he wouldn’t still be in pain, but it’s progress nonetheless.
Also, one of his eyes is starting to show improvement in its range of motion. This is good because it makes it easier for him to play WoW for more than 10 minutes at a time before the eye strain gets to him.
Some other issues the young family faces are mounting health care bills and getting full coverage for the treatment — not everything is covered by insurance. There is a fund, if anyone wants to help out. Details are posted HERE.
In the few minutes a day Ezra does get a chance to play WoW, his guild continues to be strong supporters. Micah calls the guild “the virtual equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor. It was very touching, in a geeky sort of way.”
Micah plans to update Ezra’s fans at a new blog, at www.ezrachatterton.blogspot.com. There are no posts yet but the site may be taking comments.
The Ezra Chatterton archive:
* June 15, 2008: Warcraft fan’s cancer spreads but family remains upbeat
*Feb. 29, 2008: Ezra update: Still recovering, playing World of Warcraft
* Sept. 28, 2007: Ezra Update: Warcraft fan has ups and downs
* July 18, 2007: Ezra update: Warcraft fan with cancer turns 11
* June 13, 2007: UPDATE: Condition of Warcraft fan with cancer improves
* May 31, 2007, Big screen for Ezra?
* May 25, 2007: Fund for Warcraft fan with cancer set up
* May 23, 2007: Gamers show their support for Ezra
* May 22, 2007: Images of Ezra’s WoW creations, thanks to Blizzard developers
* May 22, 2007: The original story and slideshow:Blizzard makes WoW wish virtual reality
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