How the Elite Dangerous Community Filled a Young Gamer’s Final Days With Joy

Every so often, you read something that sticks with you.  Something that hits home on such a level that it remains at the forefront of your mind.  This is one such story.

I recently had the pleasure of reading a beautiful article by Mathew James Westhorpe.  In it, he shares how his teenage nephew’s life was difficult and cut tragically short, but that his last moments were made infinitely more tolerable thanks to the Elite Dangerous developers and community.  It is so heartwarming to read about a gaming community coming together to make a profound difference.

The story is about Michael, who died on 22 May 2019, aged just 15.

Of his nephew, Mathew wrote:

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. Online in his favourite game, Elite Dangerous by Frontier Developments, he was known as CMDR Michael Holyland.

In Michael’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. I know it was Michael’s wish to celebrate the generosity he was shown, so I’ve written this account of how Frontier and friends made the intolerable last days of a 15-year-old boy infinitely better.

Here’s the full article.

If you don’t have the time to read the article now, please bookmark it and come back to it.  It will stick with you.

o7 CMDR Michael Holyland.