#CHANGE COMMANDER NAME ELITE DANGEROUS SIMULATOR#

The outpouring of empathy and support continued from all quarters. Sally Morgan-Moore and Paige Harvey from Frontier Developments, left, visit Michael and family in AddenbrookeвЂ™s hospital. MichaelвЂ™s Dad, Karl, got the gifts framed and mounted on his wall. I had not seen him this elated for some time. They were absolutely brilliant with Michael, who could be quite abrupt and challenging at times. The next day, she and her colleague Sally Morgan-Moore visited Michael on the AddenbrookeвЂ™s oncology ward and, as promised, brought a bag of swag including a poster signed by many members of the Elite Dangerous team.

Upon learning that Michael had only a few days to live, Paige moved things up a gear. At this point, I hadnвЂ™t made the gravity of MichaelвЂ™s circumstances clear on Twitter Michael was pretty internet savvy and we decided to keep his terminal state from him to spare him avoidable emotional distress. She told me that she was scouring the office for вЂњgoodies to sendвЂќ. Paige had seen my tweet and wanted to do something to lift MichaelвЂ™s spirits. It wasnвЂ™t long before I was contacted by Paige Harvey, a community manager at Frontier Developments. For us, it was a lifeline: I spent time with Michael in the game world as he tried to escape the suffering of the real one.

It could be quite tranquil and very time consuming.

#CHANGE COMMANDER NAME ELITE DANGEROUS SIMULATOR#

It is an online spaceship simulator set in a 1:1 scale approximation of the Milky Way galaxy, giving each player the freedom to explore its vast, austere beauty. In an act of despondence, I sent a tweet, which started something bittersweet and amazing.Д®lite Dangerous had become a vital component of MichaelвЂ™s care package. I'm thankful that it's there as a coping mechanism though, at least while he's still capable. It's heartbreaking watching my nephew squinting at the screen as he strives to achieve his #EliteDangerous goals, knowing that he'll likely never achieve them. We watched helplessly as this isolated, disabled and lonely autistic teenager unknowingly faced his final days. There was nothing anybody could do for him after almost six years of debilitating illness, all medical treatments had been exhausted or were no longer viable. On 14 May, I stood in MichaelвЂ™s room in AddenbrookeвЂ™s hospital, Cambridge, trying to process the inevitability of his death.ДЄt that moment, he was perched on his hospital bed playing a racing game on his Xbox, squinting at the screen obscured by his swollen face. I know it was MichaelвЂ™s wish to celebrate the generosity he was shown, so IвЂ™ve written this account of how Frontier and friends made the intolerable last days of a 15-year-old boy infinitely better.

In MichaelвЂ™s last week of life, thanks to the Elite Dangerous player community, a whole network of new friends sprang up in our darkest hour and made things more bearable with a magnificent display of empathy, kindness and creativity. Online in his favourite game, Elite Dangerous by Frontier Developments, he was known as CMDR Michael Holyland. He loved his family, tractors, lorries, tanks, spaceships and video games (mostly about tractors, lorries, tanks and spaceships), and confronted every challenge in his short, difficult life with a resolute will that earned him much love and respect.

Change commander name elite dangerous