Player Shares How Red Dead Redemption 2 Helped Him Survive Cancer and Stay Strong
A deeply heartfelt story has surfaced on Reddit, reminding everyone that video games can be so much more than just entertainment. A 35-year-old man from Italy with the nickname Original_Tower_5654 shared how Red Dead Redemption 2 helped him get through one of the toughest battles of his life — his fight with cancer.
“I’ve loved this game ever since I first played it. I still remember how blown away I was by how deeply it could make me feel actual emotions. Then, just like what happens to Arthur Morgan, life hit me hard too — out of nowhere I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer,” he wrote.
The first days after his diagnosis were the hardest. Fear of the future, pain, and anxiety about how it would affect his loved ones filled his mind. The only way he could find some peace was through his favorite Rockstar game.
“The only time I could really escape and find some peace was when I booted up the game. That’s when it started feeling like real therapy.”
His greatest challenge came later — a bone marrow transplant followed by two months of isolation in a sterile hospital room. But it was there that Red Dead Redemption 2 became his true form of therapy.
“My body was trapped in that little room, while my mind was freely riding across the endless landscapes of RDR. It felt so surreal. Sometimes I’d spend hours just wandering around for no reason, enjoying the scenery, hunting rare animals, or taking pictures of the views.”
He even recalls one moment when, after taking morphine for the pain, he started the mission “A Quiet Time” — “for a bit of extra immersion.”
After a long treatment, the man finally returned home and shared his story, thanking the community and the anonymous bone marrow donor who saved his life — and allowed him to keep playing this masterpiece.
“Maybe my donor is a gamer too, and somewhere in the world you’re reading this. It’s thanks to you that I can still spend more hours playing this masterpiece.”
The post received an outpouring of support from fellow players, with hundreds of comments filled with gratitude and well wishes.
Incidentally, Red Dead Redemption 2 recently celebrated its seventh anniversary since release.