Video Game Marathon Honors Gamer Who Lost His Battle with Cancer
Friends of Nicholas Capobianco game to raise funds for cancer charities through Nick’s Marathon
At 11:59pm, January 21st 2011, several dedicated gamers will convene in a Manhattan apartment for an entire weekend of video gaming and fund-raising. The event, called Nick’s Marathon, is done in the name of Nicholas Capobianco, who passed away in the summer of 2008 after losing his battle to leukemia. This will be the third Nick's Marathon event and all proceeds will go to the The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), and Child's Play charities. LEGO Star Wars was one of Nick's favorite games, and the developer talks about the latest title in this video interview.
Nick, a video game enthusiast and devoted friend, touched countless lives in his 28 years. Though he had battled leukemia as a child, he had lived most of his adult life healthy and cancer free. But in 2006, health issues began to resurface, and Nick spent the next few years undergoing various surgeries and treatments, including a bone marrow transplant. Perhaps because Nick had successfully fought back against cancer before, his death left those closest to him in shock.
Alan Noah, one of Nick's oldest friends, was particularly affected by Nick's passing. “I just couldn't believe that Nick was gone. We had been friends since high school, for over a decade. He was such a good person – how could this happen? After the initial shock had worn off, I decided immediately that I needed to do something to honor the memory of the kindest and most generous person I've ever known.”
Alan enlisted the help of his friend James Brief, and in the fall of 2008, Alan and James organized the first Nick's Marathon. The event was conceived as a video game marathon; where a group of people play video games over an entire weekend – with no breaks – and broadcast it all live on the internet. People would go to www.nicksmarathon.com, watch the games being played, and make a donation. The 2008 event raised a total of $3,000, as did the second Nick's Marathon in 2009.
The next Nick's Marathon hopes to shatter that number. Participants in the 2011 video game marathon will continue in the NM tradition of playing co-op games, where two or more players work together, as opposed to competing against one another. Each year, Nick's Marathon raises money for three charities, each related to Nick:
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services. The mission of LLS is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Nick suffered leukemia when he was a child, and though it went into remission, the cancer returned in Nick’s mid-twenties and ultimately proved fatal.
Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), a non-profit organization, creates, finds and supports programs that directly improve the health and well being of children. Through its global network of local Chapters in 52 countries and regions, its three core programs, the Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald Family Room and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, and millions of dollars in grants to support children's programs worldwide, RMHC provides stability and resources to families so they can get and keep their children healthy and happy. When Nick was a child with leukemia, he participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the 100th Ronald McDonald House location in New Hyde Park, NY.
Child's Play is a game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in its network of over 60 hospitals worldwide. Since 2003, Child’s Play has collected over 7 million dollars in donations of toys, games, books and cash for kids in children’s hospitals. Nick, ever the video game lover, was gaming in his hospital room until just before his death.
Nick's Marathon was created in September 2008 by James Brief and Alan Noah, two friends of Nicholas Capobianco who wanted to do something positive, charitable, and fun to honor the memory of their friend. The charity has raised $6,000 in its first two years of existence, donating $2,000 each to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and Child's Play.
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About the Author
John Gaudiosi
Editor-in-Chief
John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 20 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Forbes.com, NVISION, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Geek Monthly, PrimaGames.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. and has produced videogame documentaries for The History Channel and Starz Entertainment. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.
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