ArchiveFM

Radiolab

The Cathedral

Ryan and Amy Green were facing the unfaceable: their youngest son, Joel was diagnosed with terminal cancer after his first birthday. Producer Sruthi Pinnamaneni tells the story of how Ryan and Amy stumble onto an unlikely way of processing their experience fighting alongside Joel: they decide to turn it into a video game. In the end, they find themselves facing what might be, for a game designer or a parent, the hardest design problem ever. Correction: In the original audio we stated that the survival rate of childhood AT/RT cancer is 50% over five years. But studies suggest the survival rate is 50% over two years. The audio has been updated to reflect this change. For an extended version of this story and a bunch more incredible stories, go check out Reply All. Special thanks to Eilis O’ Neill, Jon Hillman, and Josh Larson. This episode included audio from “Thank You For Playing,” a documentary film about the creation of That Dragon, Cancer by David Osit & Malika Zouhali-Worrall. You can learn more about the film and where you can see it, at thankyouforplayingfilm.com. For more, we suggest reading Wired's "Playing For Time."
Duration
34m
Broadcast on
28 Dec 2015
Audio Format
other

Ryan and Amy Green were facing the unfaceable: their youngest son, Joel was diagnosed with terminal cancer after his first birthday. Producer Sruthi Pinnamaneni tells the story of how Ryan and Amy stumble onto an unlikely way of processing their experience fighting alongside Joel: they decide to turn it into a video game. In the end, they find themselves facing what might be, for a game designer or a parent, the hardest design problem ever.

Correction: In the original audio we stated that the survival rate of childhood AT/RT cancer is 50% over five years. But studies suggest the survival rate is 50% over two years. The audio has been updated to reflect this change.

For an extended version of this story and a bunch more incredible stories, go check out Reply All.

Special thanks to Eilis O’ Neill, Jon Hillman, and Josh Larson. This episode included audio from “Thank You For Playing,” a documentary film about the creation of That Dragon, Cancer by David Osit & Malika Zouhali-Worrall. You can learn more about the film and where you can see it, at thankyouforplayingfilm.com. For more, we suggest reading Wired's "Playing For Time."


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This video is supported by AT&T. We all love to connect via video calls or texts. Right now, at AT&T, you can get the new iPhone 18 Pro for $0 with iPhone trading. Any condition. It has the ultimate pro camera system and big leap in battery life, so you can turn this deal into a long lasting connection. Learn how you can trade in your iPhone for the new iPhone 18 Pro, requires trading of iPhone 14 or higher, excluding iPhone 16E, an eligible plan. Terms and restrictions apply, subject to change, visit an AT&T store for details. This is Radio Lab and today we're going to feature a story from our friends over at the end of the video. Hosted by PJ VOTE, Alex Goldman. We're going to let you hear a taste of reply all. Because it's an amazing show, the entire staff is a secret favorite show, not even secret. This story just grabbed us. Now we're not going to play you the whole story they did. We're going to play you most of it. We may intervene from time to time just to bubble over with questions. And this story doesn't come from PJ and Alex, it comes from one of their producers, Shruti Pina Manini. Yes. And the story sort of centers around a couple and their son. So let me start by introducing you to the couple. Amy Green. Come on in. Come on in. And Ryan Green. Oh, we have our buffalo chicken. Oh wait, you got two hot wings from yesterday. No, I already ate those. I think that's why I'm suffering this morning. They live in a small house in Loveland, Colorado. They fell in love chatting online, got married as soon as they turned 21. They moved into this house the very next day. Well, let me respond to some emails and then we'll head down. They had their first son, Caleb, their second son, Isaac. Ryan was a computer programmer and Amy took care of the kids. They were just living in a mess of diapers and toys, going to church every Sunday. And then in 2009, they had Joel. And Joel was born. How old were you? Um, I was thinking about this the other day. If I was 25, when Caleb was born and then when Isaac was born, I would have been like 27. Yeah, I think I was 28. I was 28. When Joel was born, I figured it out. Everything was normal, fine. And then just a little before his first birthday, Amy noticed that his head was a little tilted. Just kind of cocked to one side.

Transcription truncated.

Ryan and Amy Green were facing the unfaceable: their youngest son, Joel was diagnosed with terminal cancer after his first birthday. Producer Sruthi Pinnamaneni tells the story of how Ryan and Amy stumble onto an unlikely way of processing their experience fighting alongside Joel: they decide to turn it into a video game. In the end, they find themselves facing what might be, for a game designer or a parent, the hardest design problem ever. Correction: In the original audio we stated that the survival rate of childhood AT/RT cancer is 50% over five years. But studies suggest the survival rate is 50% over two years. The audio has been updated to reflect this change. For an extended version of this story and a bunch more incredible stories, go check out Reply All. Special thanks to Eilis O’ Neill, Jon Hillman, and Josh Larson. This episode included audio from “Thank You For Playing,” a documentary film about the creation of That Dragon, Cancer by David Osit & Malika Zouhali-Worrall. You can learn more about the film and where you can see it, at thankyouforplayingfilm.com. For more, we suggest reading Wired's "Playing For Time."