Reddit offers a special area called IAmA where users can tell others what is unique about them and have members ask them questions about their situation. One such user at the top of IAmA's front page is a 13-year-old cancer patient.
The unnamed boy provided pictures of his scars and hospital stays at the top of his
IAmA page
. He even included the last photo as proof to a member who doubted his story, giving the user a picture of himself holding a page with the doubtful member's name written on it to show he was the same person from the hospital photos.
The most popular question given to the boy was how they discovered the cancer. He replied, "I had been having headaches for 1-2 years, along with vomiting and nausea. Eventually I ran into a wall and my parents took me to the hospital (we're super healthy and natural, it was un heard [sic] of for us to go there." Since the denizens of the internet are involved, the boy then had to explain that he had literally ran into a wall and he wasn't making a metaphor.
Screenshot of theonlybeat s IAmA Reddit page on 7/4/2011
■ Holly Goodwin
Screenshot of theonlybeat's IAmA Reddit page on 7/4/2011
Many members gave hopeful thoughts to the boy, especially after he divulged that his cancer, called juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma, had a survival rate of over 85%. Others who had family members who had undergone similar cancers told of their experiences and how well those family members were doing today.
One member who had donated to a charity called Child's Play which supplies hospitals with video games for sick children asked the boy if he had access to any of those items. Not only did he affirm that the hospital he stayed at had a few Wiis, he also said that the waiting room at a MRI center he used had kindles, Nintendo DS systems, and computers and that it was equally important for adults to have such items available to them to take their minds off of things as well.