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World of Warcraft: Help Ron Beat Cancer - A WoW Developer in Need
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Ron Nakada, WoW software engineer, has had quite a year. Starting with getting married and ending with a cancer diagnosis, one could say it's been unforgettable. Ron, however, needs our help. Diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, the insurance coverage between short- and long-term coverage contains a gap that could cause his family to fall immeasurably behind in medical bills. Ron's friends are trying to help.
Today Ron continues with great determination and spirit on a path of healing. However, some emergencies have occurred along the way, and Ron’s short-term disability-insurance, which did not cover monthly expenses, ended recently. Long-term disability-insurance will not start for a while and provides an even lesser benefit that falls far short of their monthly needs. Ron has an urgent need right now to pay accumulated bills (including credit cards he has had to rely on to get by) and a longer term need for assistance while he continues the battle.
Let’s pull together again to help our dear friend Ron! Donations go to Ron immediately. Any amount you can donate today will help fulfill short-term needs this month. I’ve set the goal at $8,000 in one week to reflect the urgent short-term need, but the bigger goal is to reach $25,000 by mid January. Let’s hit that first goal so Ron and his family can enjoy this Christmas without the stress of overdue bills and the threat of utilities shutting off. After achieving that, we will extend the deadline and update the amount to the final goal.
Read more about Ron, the campaign and more on the Help Ron Beat Cancer campaign page.
Via Kotaku
Comments
Not to take a dump on the noble cause, but isn't that pocket change for Blizzard?
The least they could do for their employee for Christmas...
I was thinking the same thing, but I didn't know a nice way to put it. Blizzard is rolling in the dough. Why wouldn't they be the first ones to donate all of it. That's literally 1,667 subscriptions in one month which is a whopping 0.000238% of their total subscription base, and that's not even accurate I used only 1,667 / 7,000,000 to get this number!!!!!!!! Point being it's less than pocket change. If they don't assist with at least the 25 grand I will never buy a Blizzard product again.
There is no telling whether they are or not. This campaign was started by one of Ron's best friends independent of anyone or anything else. I prefer to think that Blizzard, which has a long record of charitable giving, is working with Ron's family in its time of need, perhaps in ways we know nothing about.
Rather than focusing on speculative and unfounded castigation at Blizzard, focus instead on the idea of charity and helping those who need it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
nvm
I really hope so....... Maybe they already donated the money and we haven't been updated yet. It's possible that maybe he ahd too much pride to even ask them, and that's why his friend started the donation.
His friend came up with the initiative.
I don't think it's about whether Blizz wants to help foot the bills or not.
You have to look at what WoW is. It's a cultural phenomenon. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a PR move too. No matter how dirty it makes you feel. Get the community involved. Make them feel like they're part of the Blizzard family.
Medical laws in the US are a convoluted mess. Generally short term insurance pays up to a certain point, for a certain number of days, before long term care insurance kicks in. Generally speaking, there can be a 'gap' in coverage of up to 8 weeks. This is the gap that these people are trying to help fill since the bills continue unabated and without insurance coverage. The family is then left holding the bag.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
To be fair if Blizz did simply pony up the cash that would set a very dangerous precedent, they help this guy they'll have to help everyone and their grandmother, if the guy who who cleans the windows fall ill should blizzard pay for that? the guy who once a year renews the car park road marking?.
It's a sad situation but it's not for blizzard to sort out its his health insurance company.
I all fairness, cancer treatment is expensive enough to chew through that $80k and whatever savings you might have.
Health insurance is insanely complex, and it's easy to have gaps in coverage (especially if the insurance company can dodge paying for terminal patients with those gaps).
Blizzard is an international corporation. Corporations that "take care of their own" and "do the right thing" are somewhat rare, and the bigger they are the rarer they are. Mostly they're just a maze of ass-covering bureaucracy.
And, at the end of the day, this guy's dying and his treatment requires money. I don't begrudge them for asking the community.
cancer sucks
I wish him a healthy recovery
EQ2 fan sites
Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. ~ Italian proverb
I dunno, to me the real tragedy in this story isn't Ron's plight with cancer, but Ron's plight with the US medical insurance system. Furthermore, tragedy of the system aside, this is someone who presumably lived in and understood the system yet failed to take all the extra money not payed out in taxes levied to fund universal healthcare (which ends up being none, since Americans pay more in tax dollars per capita for healthcare than Canadians do -- see http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/21/4/88.long -- but lets give them the benefit of the doubt and all that) and put that extra money in savings to cover the 8 week gap he knew he'd have given the insurance he purchased.
So while I feel bad for Ron and his family, I'm not really eager to hand out money to cover him through this lapse in financial planning. Especially when I read that he's tapped out sources of high-interest financing (ie: credit cards) instead of looking for a lower-interest, longer-term solution (ie: line of credit, loan, reverse mortgage, etc.). Even if Blizzard won't hand out the money, they could at the very least be willing to provide a loan that is then repaid through payments automatically deducted from his salary once he returns to work. Perhaps he and his family and friends are all too distraught to go through the rigamarole of securing a loan from a financial institution, but do have the wherewithal to run a community request, but then they should be asking for no-interest public loan rather than begging for donations. If Ron expects to survive and return to work, he should have no trouble paying the community back for their generosity; if chances of survival are slim then it's all emotional heartstrings and whatnot but far from a good investment of charitable dollars.
Not to mention that neither Ron's friends nor the fundraising site they're using seem to be registered as a charitable organization, so, dollar for dollar, charitable giving would be better served in another organization. Perhaps Ron's friends should be trying to partner up with a charitable organization; surely this situation can't be uncommon in the States and there are some that deal with it on a regular basis?
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
What the posts before mentioned is true with any company. It's about the precedent.
However!!!!
Companies could always do it for "valued" employees and just agree to keep it on the hush hush. Probably make them sign a contract for it.
For all we know This guy's medical bill might be at the 100k mark and they are only asking for the 25k as a front and Blizzard will actually take care of the rest. Or the 25k will be payed for by Blizzard disguised as a donation from random people.
Except for, you know, things that can actually help. Like chemotherapy and radiation.
Get well soon, Ron!
Best and fastest way is: Blizz makes a new mount or pet..sells it for 10 dollars and makes 10000x more money then its needed to help the guy...problem solved.
Carity is all bull, all that is needed is 100 top billionares in the world to donate a very small % and people in need all over the world will be covered.
Would this have even been posted if Ron didn't work on WoW.?
While I do feel sorry for the man and his family for what they are going through, but if I earned as much money as him then I would have made sure I had things covered just in case anything happened for whatever reason.
Maybe some rich people will take pity on his plight and donate the money to him.
Cancer is no joke in terms of suffering and cost. Its a major issue when it comes to how families can deal with it.
Things like obama care, the show 'breaking bad' are recent, and touch on this issue.
If it was a publicity stunt, it would be perceived as showing not for the sake of company only as being not immune to money problems, but how wow employees just like anyone else are victims of bad insurance policy in their country. Thats if you want to see it as a publicity stunt, and possibly not related to the company.
I hope he makes a full recovery, and gets the funds. And jumping to conclusions is a bit harsh, but i guess thats what people on the internet do, and like to share opinions.
Write bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble
I understand the friends meant well, but I don't think Blizzard would be overly happy about this type of coverage. It just makes them look cheap and uncharitable, especially just before Christmas.
Hopefully they wont take the slight too personally and will still help the guy out.