"How LoL, Riot, eSports, and the community help me survive Cancer." (Reddit post taken down)

My post was taken down from the League of Legends subreddit and it was suggested that I should post it somewhere else. So here it goes.

Hi everyone. Two months ago I was declared Cancer free. I just wanted to share my story about how LoL and everything that revolved around it helped me survive it. I've been living with a rare Cancer since 2007 that had no treatment for it. I basically had to be hospitalized every year since then. On 2012, I was informed by my doctor that there was an experimental treatment being conducted in Maryland at the National Institutes of Health. The treatment has been working for some of the patients. The catch was that I live in NY and I didn't know anyone that lived in MD or DC (DC is close to MD). Moving to Maryland would mean I had to live in the hospital for the whole treatment. The treatment usually takes 1-2 years. For a chance to live a normal life, of course I took it. I moved to the NIH (the hospital) on June 2013. My mom and siblings stayed for a week but had to leave due to work and school. So my "Hospital Apartment Life" began.

When I moved to MD I was scared and felt isolated. I was going to be in an experimental treatment not knowing what the result was going to be. It freaked me out. To keep me occupied I brought a couple of books, my PSP and a crappy laptop that I was only used for school. Little did I know, the crappy laptop would be my pain reliever. League of Legends has been part of my life since 2010, when my little brother introduced it to me. I was more into MMOs at that time but LoL changed my whole perspective about MOBAs. I instantly loved it. My "RL" friends on the other hand were not interested. I played LoL with my brother but most of the time just by myself, solo queuing. It still was a lot of fun. I've played LoL on my desktop ever since. I've never tried it on the laptop. Until one day when I was walking around the hospital I saw 2 kids, bald chemo heads same as mine, playing LoL in the hospital's library. I was intrigued. I never thought the hospital's free wifi could handle online games. I quickly went back to my room and tried downloading LoL. Of course I had my doubts because the laptop was about 4 years old. Lo and behold it worked. LoL's small requirements to install and play the game was enough for me to play it on a "Very Low" setting. I started going to the library waiting for others to show up hoping to introduce myself.

During my 1 year stay in the hospital for treatment, I met other Cancer patients and staff that played LoL. They introduced me to twitch.tv, to eSports, and of course to LoL reddit. Ever since then my daily routine changed. I woke up went to LoL reddit, browsed a few pages for some laughs then had breakfast and my daily chemo dose. While getting the dose, I would go to twitch.tv. I would finish the day by playing a couple of games but I would eventually pass out from the medications. I watched Trick2g, SirhcEz, the TSM players and many more. It kept me more entertained than watching the NBA. By the way I'm a HUGE basketball fan and player but when eSports came into my life... HOOKED. I love the drama, the matches, the players, and of course the LCS BIG PLAYS. Around September of 2013, my treatment was decreased which allowed me to be out of my room more. Luckily it was around the time where Worlds 2013 started. Me and the other Cancer patients set up our laptops in the Library where we could watch it together. We routed for no team really. We just wanted to see awesome plays and learn how to play champions better. After watching the matches in Worlds we would instantly play again. Try the champions that the pros used during that day. It was awesome.

It's been 4 months since I was released from the hospital. I want to thank Riot for making this amazing game and making it playable even for "toaster" type laptops. I want to thank whoever started the LoL eSports tournaments (more drama than the NBA). I want to thank the streamers; Trick2g, SirhcEz, Dyrus and the rest for being in our lives. You people may have not met us but you made our medications/treatments easier to overcome. Thank you for making us LAUGH so hard and also be amazed by the sick plays. You guys also inspired me to stream my games. Lastly, I wanna thank the LoL reddit community. I enjoy reading random stuff about what's happening around the game. I especially love the positive posts. On behalf of the patients and staff of the NIH that love LoL, thank you Riot and the community. You all made fighting Cancer easier for us. P.S. I know the post is very long but you would appreciate it more if you did not browse through it. Also, if you're a Cancer patient/survivor like I am I'd love to hear your story.

TLDR: LoL brought strangers together not because of the disease we had but because of our love for the game. We forgot about the fact that we were sick. We forgot about the fact that we might not survive. The only fact in our heads was that LoL would keep us occupied no matter what.

EDIT: My friend said I should link a photo of me so people would not think I'm making up this whole story.So, here's a before and after photo of me on imgur. http://imgur.com/sk1jBvV

EDIT 2:I can't believe I forgot to mention TheOddone! I learned how to jungle from him!

EDIT 3: My post was taken down from the LoL subreddit but a newspaper made it an article. http://esport.aftonbladet.se/lol/vi-glomde-bort-att-vi-kanske-inte-skulle-overleva/