Thursday, November 4, 2010

Meet the participants: Pro Recreant - survivor

Today we meet another of our male survivors, Pro Recreant.

Pro has a very rare form of cancer, a soft tissue sarcoma, which was discovered in 2005 after removal of a huge tumor which had invaded his right kidney. He has already had three series of chemotherapy and three major surgeries, and will soon have a fourth major surgery. Despite this he lives a busy and active life both in real life and in Second Life. He regularly attends the Hope Haven survivor support group meetings on the American Cancer Society island, and is working on establishing a new ACS support group in SL to help men to face up to cancer, and he is also hoping to start up a Relay For Life team next year.

Pro entered Second Life just over three years ago when a friend mentioned it to him. ‘I wanted to learn more about Virtual Reality Modelling so I came to explore ... and found a nice new world.’

Pro says: ‘I joined the SL Cancer Survivors Group after clicking on a sign at Relay For Life. I have met many wonderful people that have shared with me and I have met people with similar experiences that I do not have access to in real life. Global connections make the world a smaller place and bring into contact people I would never have a chance to meet in real life.

‘It's an honor to have been chosen for a makeover, but I have mixed feelings as I have been chosen for many honors this year. I almost feel a bit greedy that all these blessings are raining down on me.

‘I am not a member of a real life cancer group, but I am in church share groups. The experiences are surprisingly similar. The survivor family has become an extension of my church family.’

In real life Pro is passionate about his farm and his work. His SL wife and RL wife are the same. He says: ‘In real life, my wife and I share a love for computers and gaming. We garden and have a small farm and enjoy fishing and cooking and EATING! In SL I like tinkering with building, scripting, and sailing in SL. But my wife loves the shopping!’

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