To have a child who is terminally ill is something you would wish on no person. But sadly, it does happen and is something some people have to live through. One man took the news and decided to do something proactive with it to help him deal and potentially help others down the road in the same situation.

Video games often provide a form of escape, both for their players and, at times, for their designers. But for Green “That Dragon, Cancer,” as his game is called, served an opposite purpose—as a way to invite others to share his real-life experience. An early demo of the game, released a few months after Green and his friend and development partner Josh Larson began work on it, in November of 2012, held nothing back in its depiction of the family’s plight.

Makes you realize just how powerful the medium of gaming is becoming, and makes you wonder what other ways it will change the future.

Here’s the kickstarter video of the game, which was successfully funded last year:

[That Dragon, Cancer | Image, story via New Yorker]

Tags: cancer, game, growing, learning, sad, tech, video game