To some, the sounds of Halo represent their gaming experience. To others, it helps fend off seizures.
Meet Marissa.
Marissa is an adorable 3-year-old girl who, on February 15th of 2008, was diagnosed with Infantile Spasms (a specific type of seizure seen in an epilepsy syndrome of infancy and childhood known as West Syndrome). She was born shortly after Halo 3 shipped and has been living with this serious pediatric epileptic condition for the majority of her short life. Unfortunately there's no reliable cure for this disease, and it has the potential to leave her mentally and physically disabled for life - or worse.
Mike, her father, started to notice a regular pattern of her seizing approximately 30 minutes after his regular Halo: Reach session stopped. When asked, her neurologist attributed it to the sleep cycle and sudden absence of familiar sound transitioning her from deep sleep to a less sound version, thus inducing a seizure. Once that connection was made, Mike had a gaming friend - Apollo Running from the Spirits of Fire - create some soundtracks consisting of Halo songs and the noise of gameplay. This magical mixed rendition has staved the seizure effect off for four hours on two separate occasions.
In Mike's words, "It’s an interesting pattern - play Halo of pretty much any variety, and Marissa settles down and ultimately goes to sleep."
Halo means different things to different people. And this is one such example of that.
Read more about MarissaDownload one of the songs
Top