MUGI – My Unique Gift Idea

A few weeks ago, we came across a blogging community for cancer patients called RedToeNail. Today, we found a video game for kids going through cancer treatments.

The video game simulates what goes on inside the bodies of cancer patients. You get to shoot cancer cells in virtual reality by controlling a nanite robot. It’s not going to get rid of your actual cancer, but for kids, it can mean much emotional relief. “When you go through cancer treatment, chemotherapy becomes something you dread,” says Daniel Neumann, 19, a cancer survivor. “With the game you’re actively playing something and shooting cells.”

It’s called Re-Mission, a pun on the word remission, the state of cancer patients when their disease is preliminarily eliminated, but are still under caution for a recurrence. It was released in 2006, with more than 145,000 free copies now distributed.

It was none other than Pamela Omidyar, wife of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, who came up with the idea for the video game.
Here’s how you play: You control a nano-robot that travels through the human body to destroy harmful cancer cells. Along the way, the robot explains medical terminology and what’s going on when the body undergoes cancer treatment. Associating this type of treatment – treatment that often makes its patients so sick they can’t eat – with positive emotions from the video game, could do more than just explain the process and provide a little fun. It can really make a difference in the health of cancer patients, because a little positivity often goes a long physical way.

Daniel says it was the game that ultimately made him feel better about his treatment. And now in remission, Neumann is helping developers with the next edition of Re-Mission, expected to be released in 2012. Wanna play? Download it at www.re-mission.net