A 20 year old U.K. man died last week after a blood clot formed in his legs from playing video games up to 12 hours a day. The clot travelled to his heart and he collapsed while job hunting with friends. 

While I believe it is undeniably tragic that someone lost their life, I am possibly more saddened by the way it happened. There’s the argument that he died doing something that he loved, but the most depressing thing about the death is what he missed out on, and how easily this death could have been prevented

When I was a kid I walked to school up hill, and back home uphill. Just kidding – however my high school in B.C. was inconveniently situated on the top of a very large hill and the walk up there was agonizing. Growing up in Cochenhour, Ont. (Ko-shen-er, if you’re wondering, since I’m positive you’ve never heard of it. If you have, I’d love to hear from you) my parents bought my sister and me an original Nintendo, and then a Super Nintendo (90’s babies put your hands up!). After school each day we’d rush home and turn on the fuzzy cable TV in my room to watch Saved by the Bell, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the Simpsons. I have so many wonderful memories of laying on our bellies on the cold linoleum with my older brother and sister, our chins resting in our hands. Those were some of the few moments where we all got along and shared a common interest – that being Zach, Kelly, Screech and the gang. 

If Mom and Dad weren’t paying attention, we’d play a few minutes of Nintendo after our shows were over. Our favourite game of all time was Super Mario Kart, of course. For whatever reason our parents never bought the game for us. They were always paying attention when they heard the familiar click of the game cartridge sliding in, and we were booted out the door to scatter amongst our tiny town of 600 or so people and play outside. 

Often that was spent playing school, with my sister and her friend acting as teachers, and the rest of us being students. We played horses, and always fought over who got to be named Sprinkles. In the winter we went tobogganing and built snowmen. We had a gigantic sandbox and a playhouse with a huge birch tree for shade. My best friend next door had a sandbox too, and a swing set. Sometimes we went to a nearby pond and caught frogs and turtles to build little terrariums for in our kiddie pools. 

Once we moved away from Ontario to B.C., my life changed significantly, but two things remained the same – we were expected to be outside and I would still sneek home to watch a few minutes of TV before Mom and Dad got home. I had my own pony for the first time and the ranch and surrounding trails were our playground. The TV shows changed to Rugrats and Angry Beavers, Nickelodeon Kids staples. 

I’m sure things aren’t the same as when I was a kid. We knew all our neighbours and everyone had lived there forever. The town was so small we basically had free reign of it. Once we were in B.C., our ranch was outside of town and we were free to ride to our hearts content. 

My point to sharing all of these wonderful memories is that I was never allowed to sit still for too long as a kid. We were allowed to play video games, but we had very strict time limits which were heavily enforced. TV was a treat, and besides sharing a few laughs with Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, we barely watched it. In fact, for a long period of time we didn’t even have TV. 

At 23, I’m now trying to reclaim that energy for being outside and having adventures. I’m getting back into riding horses, riding a bike and reading outside when I can. I’m working on my fitness and have added a hike to my bucket list – the one mountain peak I grew up staring at in awe from Kimberley, B.C. called Fisher Peak. It’s my Mount Everest. 

This 20 year old man missed out on so much glued to his computer screen for 12 hours a day playing video games. I hope that anyone participating in this sort of activity takes the steps to change their lives before something tragic happens. That doesn’t necessarily mean quit playing Halo altogether – but do as the family of this young man is now encouraging – take breaks. Go for a walk, run, jump rope, whatever – and maybe stay outside to long enough smell the roses and realize there’s more out there than is online.

DISCLAIMER: The Last Word is an opinion column, it is meant to provoke thought and debate. As such, any opinions written here are the writer’s own and do not reflect the viewpoint of any other Fitzhugh staff member or the directors of the Jasper Media Group Inc.