On February 19th, 2017, Nicholas “Ministry” McGuire went into cardiac arrest at the Swedish Super Smash Bros. tournament Beast7. Now, the Smash community at large has banded together to raise over $US23,000 ($30,400) for his estimated $US200,000 ($264,345) hospital bill.
During a match, McGuire collapsed onto the floor when an artificial valve in his heart, which he had due to a congenital heart disease, stopped working. The audience was shocked, but quickly sprung into action. Players rushed to move tables and televisions out of the way and called an ambulance. Some ran next door to find a defibrillator.
Adam “Armada” Lindgren, a top-ranked Melee player who knows McGuire from Gothenburg tournaments, told me, “Every minute felt like forever. It was really scary.”
Almost up to 5k now….. This stream is crazy atm LOL#ForMinistry https://t.co/yd8auTI0lL
— Adam Lindgren (@ArmadaUGS) March 14, 2017
McGuire’s been competing at Super Smash Bros. Melee for about seven years. He’s attended tournaments around the world, but mainly in Toronto, where he was a figure in the local Melee community (He later moved to Gothenburg). Smash players around the world launched donation streams and social media campaigns to help pay for his ambulance, ICU visit and heart procedures.
Lindgren, along with other Melee superstars like Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman, are diligently raising money with Twitch charity streams for McGuire’s hospital bill. They have raised thousands each day on top of the $US23,000 ($30,400) fans have donated through a GoFundMe. At local Gothenburg tournaments, players are organising donation drives and coordinating hospital visits.
Hope people liked the stream. Another $3600 raised today. Streaming tomorrow on https://t.co/PPPMOIsol2 with @armadaugs
— Jason Zimmerman (@MVG_Mew2King) March 14, 2017
“I have a huge following and I felt that I could turn it into something good,” Lindgren said.
From the hospital, McGuire told me that “Every day, I continue to be surprised by the level of support from everyone.” McGuire’s sister, Katherine, was also surprised at how quickly and efficiently the Melee community rose to the occasion, added, “It’s amazing to see how people who don’t necessarily know Nick come together as a big family. And I never would have imagined how big that family is.”
Comments
7 responses to “Smash Bros. Community Raises Over $23,000 For Sick Player’s Hospital Bills”
I can guarantee that he would have received the same level of care within the same time frame in Australia for free. He would not have had to pay a cent.
What are you on about? Australian health care isn’t free, if he was a public patient (Which would be unlikely) he would be waiting a long time for any kind of resolution and since he has a known condition he would have private health cover which costs you money every month. I assume you still live with your parents and have no idea about how the real world works, moron.
Australian health care is free in that you don’t pay anything up front in many cases. Yeah, it’s payed for by taxes, we all know that, thanks for being a pedant about it. Everyone knows what he means.
Why does having a known condition need health care? I had a heart defect, a stupid amount of tests, 2 small operations and a heap of appointments with the cardiology department over the course of 12 months+. Only thing I had to pay was the extra bit not covered by medicare on the initial GP visit to get a referral.
For the record I was not living with my parents when all this happened.
Ambulance rides aren’t free.
Really nice story. Gamers rock :-). Serious question: Is Sweden’s health care system like that of the US? I guess he didn’t have health insurance. Hope he recovers quickly and gets his bill covered.
the artificial valve thing makes me think that it was something that might not receive full coverage. In fact, 23k seems way too small for an issue with an artificial heart valve to be an american style system
They have raised 23k out of 200k needed (estimate).