Hi there! I'm ddrfr33k, the Ginger Beard Man. I'm kind of a strange fellow, but that gives me my charm.

Everyone loves a tale of triumph. Let me tell you about my brother, David. Back in April of 2008, he was in a nasty car crash. He swerved to avoid a deer, hit a tree, whacked his head on the steering wheel, he was in baaad shape. That's the kind of night no mother ever wants to deal with. She got a call from the county sheriff at about 11:45 at night, informing her that her son is in the pediatric intensive care unit, and that she should come visit right away.

David suffered what's called a Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI. Basically, it's like a concussion cranked up about 300% or more. He was kept in a medically induced coma for about 3, almost 4 weeks, so the body could take time to heal. He actually missed his Junior Prom that year, completely unconscious.

When he came to, he had to relearn everything. And I do mean EVERYTHING. The things we take for granted, like getting out of bed and putting on a shirt suddenly became monumental tasks for David. He had a long road of recovery ahead of him, and not just in the small things. He was set to graduate from high school the following year, so he had to continue his studies!

Despite the severity of his TBI, and all the setbacks it entailed, he still managed to graduate high school with a 4.0 GPA, even after his crash. Those outside the US, that's basically perfect marks across the board. It's a big deal in the States, as most students are lucky to pull a 3.0. He went on to get a Bachelor's Degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, and he is a shining example of overcoming adversity to do something amazing.

In recent years, he's been my motivation to do something completely crazy. Every November, I do a marathon session of Dance Dance Revolution to raise money for Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, one of the hospitals that helped give David his life back. Last year, I raised $570. This year? I'm just shy of $1200. Last November, I ran 12 miles playing DDR, and we raised a little over $1000. According to my FitBit, I burned 5,300 calories, and did about 23,000 steps. IN ONE DAY. I did get one of the local radio personalities to come join in, it was great! He hadn't played DDR since DDRMAX2, so we fired it up just for him to get the nostalgia into it.

We streamed it all! Our stream lasted about 7 hours and 45 minutes, and it's all recorded! I had it up on Vidme, but they're shutting down in 2 days, so I can't really share it here. But, oh well.

It's also not too late to donate, either. If you want to help out, you can make a donation here:

https://www.extra-life.org/participant/ddrfr33k

Every little bit helps, and if you are looking for a charity for an end of year donation, this is a great group to support. CMN Hospitals and clinics write off upwards of $400,000 worth of care per day for families that cannot afford it. When I say $5 can save a kid's life, I mean it. That $5, donated by thousands of people? It adds up to a lot of good!

So yeah, that's my story. It kinda turned into a shameless self promotion at the end, but it's something that's very, very important to me. It's like that one deleted scene from Bruce Almighty. "Triumph comes out of adversity. To paint a pretty picture, sometimes you have to use some pretty dark colors." It was the tragedy of my brother's injury that spurred me to do something great.

EDIT: If you want to see pictures, here's the imgur gallery with David's story: https://imgur.com/gallery/Q3iLU