Mike Mariana had been playing Destiny since the game first came out. He made some great friends in the game, but most of them moved on and started playing other titles. One of them decided to see what Mike was up to, and Mike revealed that he had become ill, and that he was still playing Destiny because Destiny was the only game that didn’t make him feel nauseous to play.
Before his time on Earth was up, he wanted to make it to the Lighthouse in Destiny.
Reaching the Lighthouse in Destiny is serious business. You’ve got to rack up 9 wins and 0 losses in the PvP Trials of Osiris, which is not an easy task, let alone for someone going through chemo therapy.
Mike’s clan tried to carry him through, but they weren’t able to do it. They reached out to a skilled Twitch streamer named DrLupo, who was happy to help.
They put together a charity stream and managed to raise over $7,500 to support Mike’s family. A lot of players in the Destiny community, and from around the internet, have come together to chip in what they can, even people who never knew him, but we touched by his story.
Here’s a video of it:
In a post on Reddit, DrLupo shared what this experience was like for him:
“I did what we set out to do – help Mike forget about his pain for an hour. Get his ass to the Lighthouse for the first time. And have a blast while doing it. And while doing so, he and his friends let us into their lives a little and reminded me that I don’t stream for myself so much as I stream the people that have built an amazing community around Destiny.”
Sadly, Mike has passed on. He is survived by his two kids and his girlfriend. His friends want to emphasize that there’s a lot more to him than just his Destiny PVE skills, and he will be greatly missed by all who knew him.