SEATTLE – Seattle Children’s Hospital is turning to video games to help treat patients.

Hospital staff said it provides accessible entertainment for patients and a healthy distraction during the worst of their treatments.

FOX 13 Seattle met with a young patient, Aria McDonald, who says Mario Kart helped her through cancer.

“There’s a lot of low lows to go through, you know, there’s a lot of scary times,” said Patrick McDonald, Aria’s dad. “You just have to get through. We were getting through day to day.”

Like a lap around Mario Kart Stadium, this journey came with its own set of obstacles Aria had to push through.

“It was just depressing,” Aria said. “You just sit there, getting chemo, medications. You don’t feel good, and it’s just sad.”

“I was shocked — shocked was the first thing that came in,” Patrick said. “You never want to hear, you never even want to think that your child has cancer.”

For the last three years of her young life, Aria has been battling high-risk neuroblastoma.

“It starts as a tumor above the pituitary gland, and it spreads,” said Cecily McDonald, Aria’s mom. “So, with Aria — it had spread all over. It also causes fractures within some of your bones. It causes a lot of pain.”

At one point, Aria’s cancer treatment plan became so intense, she had a three-month stay at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

“We were able to get that tumor out and then chemo started repairing her bones and getting the tumors out of the fractures,” Cecily said. “It just really started shrinking all of that. When she had her bone marrow transplant, that was very intense but it got all of that out of her bone marrow.” 

Between surgeries and high-potency medications, life in the hospital was taking a toll on Aria emotionally and mentally.

“The hardest part was not getting to interact as much as I used to,” Aria said.

“Often times, it’s yes, you do lose hope — and you are at a point where you can’t go another second, but you just remember there’s so many people cheering for her and supporting our family,” Cecily said.

In her final lap for the cup, the Seattle Children’s team introduced Aria to competitive video games in hopes of lifting her spirits.

“There was nothing really to do, so we just started gaming and setting up tournaments,” Aria said.

Aria would play with her nurses, her care team and just about anyone who was prepared to take on her signature Mario character of choice — Blue Shy Guy.

“It just changed everything,” Cecily said. “Even when she was getting these intensive therapies, she’s still playing.”

Instead of walking laps around the hospital wing, Aria was burning rubber underwater and in the sky.

“It was just so exciting to see her jump around the bed and be excited to play, just dance, and absolutely shellac people against the wall in Mario Kart,” said Maximillian Williams, therapeutic gaming specialist, Seattle Children’s Hospital.

At Seattle Children’s, the hospital has a dedicated department for therapeutic video games and technology for patient care.

“We have close to a million dollars in video game technology, easily,” Williams said. “We have a hundred consoles, I’d say live on the floors in carts, between outpatient and standalones and consoles to put in the units.”

So that even on their worst days, patients have something to look forward to.

“[Some of] these are huge, cinematic award-winning [games] — with a script, some with writing awards,” Williams said. “Really big, giant stories that you can sink your teeth into and go into this journey with this character.”

Before they knew it, Aria was pulling into first place, ready to cross her finish line to recovery.

In February, she rang the bell — signifying the completion of her cancer treatment. It’s Aria’s own version of a checkered flag at the end.

“It was really awesome, because I was done with all of the treatments,” Aria said.

“Her whole care team was there,” Patrick said. “And it’s just a feeling that she did it, and just thinking about all the people she had to go through to get there made it pretty special.”

Aria’s race doesn’t end here, she’s just getting started.

As of February, Aria is cancer-free.

She still goes to Seattle Children’s Hospital for a check-up every three months.

Aria is still a fierce competitor on the Mario Kart track, even taking part in online tournaments.

Seattle Children’s told FOX 13 Seattle they have more than a million dollars worth of video game equipment at the hospital. That’s thanks to partnerships they have with different organizations like Starlight Foundation and even Nintendo.

They have consoles and games for all ages to suit any child’s interests.

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