A HEARTBREAKING STORY | That Dragon, Cancer 

The "For John, who never saw his daughters grow up." got me

I think Ethan would be a great father... He just cared so much and seems very good with kids, and I think he will, someday, have kids and he is going to be a great dad once he is.

Hi. I'm a Childhood cancer survivor. i was four when I was diagnosed and six when I was "cured." I'm 17 now so that was about 11 years ago. I just wanted to talk about something that Ethan said about how Joel doesn't understand whats going on. when i had it i knew what was going on but I understood it in a different way than everyone else. It's hard to explain so let me put it this way. When an Adult gets cancer they are really upset because they were told that they were going to live to be 90 but that might not happen now. well when you tell a kid that they will die at age 6 before you tell them 90, six years old death is now normal. I wasn't upset because that was all i knew. in my mind that was a normal life span and I was okay with that. But than I survived so it was like I was defying nature. Me being 17 now feels like I'm 210 or something. That's probably not what all or most kids survivors see it but that's how I saw it.

I could not control myself when I heard Joel crying. Uncontrollable crying and hyperventilating at that point. By far the saddest game ever.

I've watched every youtuber I could find playing this and I cry every time.

I find Ethan to be incredibly cute and sweet and caring and funny. I don't even know him but yet I can still say he seems amazing.

As a teenage cancer survivor let me say, it isn't fun at all. It is shocking and horrible. Also, chemotherapy can cause the patients to become depressed. (So yeah, this game is about correct on the struggle of going through chemotherapy, although it doesn't show that some cancers require surgery first. I say that because mine required surgery to remove a tumor before I could undergo chemotherapy.) {- Sorry if this comment seems too personal}

*eats popcorn and watches knowing Ethan's soul is going to be crushed very soon by the emotional trauma of this game*

Everything about this game is beautiful. I don't understand why babies have to get cancer, they did nothing to deserve it, and never lived their life to the fullest.

up until now ive never had a game make me cry.

I'm glad that writers and creators are using video games to create cinematic stories like this one. Video games are so far reaching and well-liked, and that broad scope can be used to discuss devastating situations like this one. More and more, video games are becoming a transformative story-telling platform. Incredibly well done and touching.

what really got to me was near the end when he's on the bed in that really glowy room and you see the bent and broken sword and shield, that's when I knew he was going to die. I can totally understand the rift that the family was experiencing. right now my grandma is dying of lung cancer and it's causing a real rift between my mom and i, and it sucks because it's so hard to acknowledge and deal with on top of everything else. it's impossible to communicate with my family so I kinda just stay in my room all the time. but now I'm getting more and more depressed and I feel awful for it. cancer sucks.

32:30 its too much. seeing you cry is just too much. i have to cry then too

"for John, who never saw his daughters grow up" When Ethan started crying I exploded with tears..

everytime ethan interacts with joel, I start tearing up. hes so kind and compassionate and treats joel as if he was really there. hes so kind and amazing. what did we do to deserve him?

This game was so beautiful... Too beautiful for words, in all honesty. I was crying silent tears when I saw Joel in heaven, that boy was such a fighter and now he's at peace.

At the end looking at the pictures made me burst into tears. It's so heartbreaking to see a young little boy pass away. My pa passed away from cancer 2 years ago. My granny is battling cancer. I still cry thinking about her being gone. I'm just happy to have a healthy brother and life.

This hits me so hard. My little cousin Jones died when he was 5 from cancer and this reminds me of all the times in the hospital with him. It also reminds me of how one of the last things he said was "why am I dieing already I thought I was going be a big big boy and go to space" it breaks my heart.

I started crying when I saw Ethan crying when reading the cards

"Keep holding on." -Ethan Nestor 2016

I don't know if anyone is going to read this but I just need to pour my heart out I'm sorry - - I thought of two people in this video over and over. I thought of my cousin Harper who had cancer at the age Joel did and older. I remember seeing her father break down in the middle of an update one Sunday morning, the long absences from Sunday mornings, and her little head shaved and how she always had a smile. Thank God she is still alive. It was at the cards that I really thought of my grandmother, because she will never get to see her young grandchildren grow up and they may not remember her because she died from breast cancer spread over literally her entire body in October. I never got to say goodbye or I love you, and it's been tearing me apart. Every time I'm alone and I think about how she literally changed thousands of peoples lives by working with them personally and yet never showed the enormous pain but was constantly smiling and positive, I cry myself to sleep. She was a cofounder of the steel magnolias, which has raised so much money for all the strong women in my area battling cancer. The weeks after were the hardest. My aunts house is a wreck and she's too depressed from her mom dying to be able to fix it. Her sweet husband, my grandfather, moved out of their house of so many memories, s maybe he wil get over his depression. I hope so. I remember praying for her to live for weeks, then at so e point I knew she was going to die and I just asked God to take away her pain. She died a week later. She had journals of the struggles of her battle. She had poems and drawings. I'm going to publish them when I'm older so people can see how so amazing she was. Thank you bunches if you read this.

32:30 I'm gonna cry ;l help. I can't stand seeing my smol bean cry...I...can't. If my smol bean cries, I cry too!

i completely brock down when Ethan read the card ' to John who never saw his daughters grow up' my gran died when I was 6 or 7, and I dont remember much of her exept a warm fuzzy feeling. it breaks me to think of her not being able to see me now.

My brother had lymphoma when he was 5. My mom had best cancer before my brother had been diagnosed and before i was born, so I was adopted into their family. My father shaved his head when my mother had cancer. I love watching this game get played, even though it reminds me of the bad times, it's beautiful. They're both alive and thriving now. 💙

It hurts so bad when I hear Ethan say "I just want him to stop crying"

When he says I remember you, it might be the duck from the beginning of the game who came back at the end.

I watched this when it was first uploaded, at that time I didn’t know anyone who had cancer. Now, about 2 years later I’m bawling at it. I lost my boyfriend to cancer. Truly heartbreaking

It's so hard to watch somebody that you hold so near and dear to your heart like Ethan cry with out balling your eyes out your self

my heart beats slowly during the play through of this game,heavy sighs,sadness falls over people when they see/play this game.we've seen mark,jack,pewds,and a whole lot of others that also have been moved by this game...if anyone's on cancer,I hope you get better and get through the hard time cancer gives you❤❤

i actually saw jack play that dragøn,cancer and when Ethan first sight I was like:ØØHH BUT WAIT THERE'S MØRE

The dehydration chapter is the hardest party for me

That was a hellish roller coaster ride of emotions

When I saw Ethan start to tear up at the card hospital scene, my heart sunk.

I watched mark's video before this one and Ethan cried for the first time at the same part I did. "for Joe, who never got to see his daughters grow up" hit me hard because my dad died about 3 months before I was born. So I had to deal with losing my father to a horrible disease my entire life. My dad wasn't able to watch my sister and I grow up.. So that specific card just broke me because I could relate to it.

oh my gos Ethan would be a great father 😃

I'm so glad this game got Game of the Year for Impactful Games. It's so touching. 😭 It must be so hard for a parent to see their child in pain.

This is going to be the third time I have watched someone play this game. I'm going to get rekt again and i'm not ready for the feels. LET'S CRY FOR AN HOUR AGAIN!!! Both my mom and my sister had cancer and I had to be in the hospital with them most of the time. I'm so Grateful that the are still alive.

I love how he talked to Joel like he was really with him in real life.

I feel like 1 day, Ethan will make such a great dad. He just has a good nature about him.

I just barely got a chance to watch this video. I myself had not had to go through treatments for cancer but I had a grandfather that died of lung cancer and many other family members die because of cancer. Watching this hit me hard..

i feel like ethan would be such a great father one day. hes so loving and caring and even with a game, he acts as if hes talking to a real child and hes so gentle

Ethan is honestly so sweet and funny, I am so glad I find his channel a while back, he deserves a lot more subscribers.

I love how in the scene on the playground Ethan just treats it like he's playing with an actual baby. Talking to Joel,asking him questions. It's just adorable

I always look for games like this first when I watch a let's play youtuber. You get to see the most wonderful parts of what makes them people you love to watch.

This gets me every time and I have seen it played a lot

You don't have to be a great speaker. You have enough feelings and emotions, we understand what you're trying to say. You did awesome. Great game.

My grandfather past away of cancer in August last year and It was truly devastating. My life is/ always has been pretty traumatic and my grandfather was the light to the darkness, his death has left me pretty bad but Ethan makes everything a bit better :)

this is so emotional, it reminds me of my aunt in some way. 😢 I'm not gonna get too much into that tho, I don't wanna end up crying yet. 1:31:23 😭 1:33:15 that literally means so much, I'm crying *wipes tears away*

i never cry over games or movies but seeing real life little baby Joel destroyed me. i was already in tears when he was in heaven but actually seeing his person was just too much

It's a true story and the picture where really pictures of the family

Idk why i'm JUST now watching this, but i love your cute little smile when you were listening to the dialogue

Thanks for playing this Ethan, you're very caring and we all appreciate it.

it pulls my heart strings I cried so much it's such a moving game . being so young and have ing to go through that is so sad but for those who go through this are so strong.

its called a merry go round

This game hurts me so deeply, and I think I know why. When I was very young, I had cancer too, and one of the deadliest types. Most of my childhood was spent in the hospital, and I was holding onto life by a thread. But ever since I left the hospital, i guess i had suppressed all those feelings in the back of my mind. But playing the game, watching the game, even thinking about the game, it hit too close to home. It was exactly how my childhood was, to the point. I guess it just brang back everything that happened in that hospital. I have almost never cried in my life, but this game somehow breaks me, every time I watch it on RU-vid. Thanks for reading.

"Baby face in space" -Ethan

This is one of the SADDEST games to ever walk the face of the earth!!!! It even has the power to make grown men cry (ACTUALLY cry, not just tear up)!!! It happened to Sean/Jack, it happened to Ethan, it happened to Mark!!! I cried myself as well!!!

this made me ball my eyes out

this game absolutely moved me and im glad you played it. the entire time when joel was going trough treatment i was in tears and it reminded me when one of my close friends had cancer and when you said to keep holding on i just broke and i hope you know Ethan that you make us so happy everyday of our lives. even if we just crack a smile. it will stick with us the whole day.

I watched this about a year ago and cried. I revisited this video and cried again. Thinking about having a child and then going through that is so terrible. I've lost people, never to cancer, but it's still extremely hard. I can't imagine living through the suffering.

My aunt Rachel had passed away from cancer, May 3rd, 2017. The part with reading all of the cards fucking hurts because I made her one but she never got the chance to see or hear what I wanted to say since we didn't have enough money for transportation to see her in the hospital. I miss her so fucking much, she was basically my second mother. I want to see her again

i started crying at the scene with the cards and never stopped throughout the whole video

Wow, I cried before the first five minutes. I love just watching old videos again. This game is absolutely amazing, and hits you right in the heart in the beginning.

I was crying very lightly at the beginning, but once you cried and then Joel, I couldn"t stop

He talks to that child as if it was his own. Made me cry...

I'm an Emotional Empath so I can feel the pain that others feel...It's sad but life is life...I wish I had a friend like you Ethan...I only have my Cat and Dog has Bestfriends.

Honestly, at the end I wanted to hug him and say it's going to be ok.

the screaming... it just makes me cry, because you can't do anything to relieve their pain

Just coming here after watching Mark and Sean play this... prepared to cry again. 😅🥺

I lost my uncle due to cancer everyone tried so hard to help him, when we lost him it hurt all of us and now out of all my family members it feels like I'm the only one who still can't move on. There have been so many times I would ask myself why couldn't it not be me why was it him who had to suffer due to that illness. He was such a good person and a great uncle I would give anything in the world to see him again and for him to see who I am now, I would trade anything to at least hug him and tell him I miss him. Rest in peace Uncle Stanley I miss you and love you so much. 😢

I always go back to these videos. What always brings me back is I remember when I was in grade 7 around ending of the year they found a cyst and it tumour they didn’t know in my jaw bone. They found it after I swelled up on that side of my face and handled agony and evens over dose from the amount of meds I was taking. They flat out told my and my family that it was 96-99% chance it was cancerous. Hearing those words was by far the scariest thing I’ve ever handled in my life. After weeks/ months of scans, planning, calling doctors I finally got it out and luckily it was not cancer . I got extremely lucky. Luck some friends of mine didn’t get the pleasure to have. I’ve lost people to cancer and I almost had it myself. It’s by far the scariest thing to go thought even if you don’t fully. Hear the words “ you probably have a form of cancer “ is the worst.

I've been avoiding watching this game, but I finally decided to. I was crying from the second he started to cry, to the end. I lost my favorite teacher, who I helped every summer instead of doing normal stuff. I also lost three of my dogs, one of my grandmothers, and nearly my other grandmother and one of my grandfathers to cancer. It has been a huge part of my life. Seeing Ethan so sensitive to this game has made me realize some people care and it's okay to feel pain in these situations. He would make an amazing father and husband if he decided to.

I have watched a couple of game plays of this game to see how people react. I'm glad to see that people care a lot about wanting to put a stop to this terrible disease. Every time I watch these play throughs I cry, it's hard not to. No one should have to go through this and no one should have to experience the pain of watching someone slowly suffer through this and then pass. My great grandmother died of cancer when I was younger. I went to visit her before her last day at the hospital. She had given up, she knew non of He treatments were working and so she set up a thing where she could go home but still be monitored. I watched her hair fall out, I watched how the bruises from all the needles they shoved in her get lighter but never go away. I saw her mental state deteriorate and I saw her go from a healthy body to skin and bone. This game brings back so many memories but that means the game is doing what this family wanted it to do. Spread around the word about how bad cancer truly is. My deepest condolences go out to this family and every family who has a family member currently going through this. ❤

this is the fourth playthrough I've watched of this game and I cry every time. I think I cried the most on marks though his was the third I watched

i love ethan sm, he’s perfect in every single way. 🥺💞

This is sad but beautiful and I think Ethan would be such a wonderful dad!

I have watched this video once a year since it was uploaded and today it's different, I was extremely close with my grandmother and she just passed due to breast cancer it was a 6 year fight. But this video and all your others are helping me cope.

I starting balling my eyes out at the end !!! I could not take it anymore... this game was so beautiful 😭❤️❤️❤️

My mom died of cancer when i was 10, and it gets harder every year when it's my birthday or hers, another year with out her... another year of her not getting to see me grow up... im 19 now, I'm socially awkward and I can't feel happy emotions or get excited anymore.. Unless I'm watching youtubers.... you guys are the only ones that can make me happy and smile... thank you so much for that. (:

it takes alot for games to make me cry most of the time, or anything for that matter, but I could not control the tears during this game. This is the third play through I've watched of the game and I've cried every single time. This game is so incredibly moving.

my best friend in the world had brain cancer at 5 months. he had a 5% chance of survival. we have known each other since day one. i didn’t really get it because i was only 1 at the time. he couldn’t talk or walk right. i just rember my parents telling me he was just different and that he was very sick. i started to get it more the older i got. i did everything to help him and still do. he is doing really well now. he is 14 years old happy and well. i have just started to understand how lucky i am that he is still here. this whole game hit really close to home🥺💕

I have had some experiences with family members fighting cancer but I can only really remember one. I was only 7-9 and me, mother and some others where at my aunts house. All of a sudden she passed out in the kitchen and we rushed her to the hospital. I can remember sitting in the waiting room, talking to my sister when the doctor came out to tell us she had liver cancer and passed. I didn't understand until I looked at my moms face. Sometimes words aren't even needed to explain a situation. I really hope that anyone who is going through anything as bad as cancer or anything in that matter are ok. it will always be ok in the end. If it's not ok, then it's not the end.

One of my best friend's mother passed away from cancer last year and she can still remember the hardship she went through because of it. She tells people about it and says it's alright, but everyone knows how much it's held her back. She's drawn her for our class project and is making her father, who doesn't even seem to care about her death, hang it up. Her father isn't helping, and we're all trying to be there for her as much as we can. Her mother, although I never got to meet her, was a great person who did many many amazingly things. My friend misses her dearly and wears her ashes in a neckalace everyday...

Ethan: *clicks on new game* Me: *sobs*

You posted this video a year ago but I always come back to it. Not to long ago, i've been told that my uncle was diagnosed with cancer. I'm trying every single day to visit him, but I rarely have time to visit him anymore. I'm afraid when I do get a chance to see him again, i'll be too late. I'm trying to stay positive, but it's hard to stay positive when everyday I don't get to see him. I didn't type all of that to get pity, to get likes, or anything like that. Its hard to experience a family member struggle with cancer. I'm so greatful for this community and i'm so greatful to have an amazing youtuber like Ethan cheer up people like me. Thank you, to Ethan and this lovely community. *Thank You* 💙💜

I couldn't even imagine. I had a tumor diagnosed last year and they didn't figure out whether or not it was cancerous even after 2 biopsies, so we waited until after I had it removed to find out anything. Luckily it was benign but I cannot imagine having to deal with you or your family having cancer. Im so glad I found this video

this game is incredibly beautiful and very moving. cancer can rip families apart. two years ago my grandmother passed from lung cancer and before that my mother had gone through extensive treatment for thyroid cancer. it's devastating to watch someone you love suffer. please stay strong everyone, it does get better.

this was the second time watching someone play this, it's a beautiful thing when you see people have different responses and emotions appear at certain parts. that's what i always look for, that emotion and raw expression. Thank you for it

Hey. I just wanted to thank you for making videos playing this series. I've been trying my hardest to re-watch this, to learn more about it. I think your voice may be what I needed to get through watching it again. I'm not sure if thats weird, but thank you.

Thank you for your commentary in the end, it really made this experience and helped me a lot personally too ^^

This game gets me every time. This nails cancer on the head for almost every family who’s experienced it. My aunt passed away from cancer just over 3 years ago. She was like my 2nd mother to me. I was with her through all the chemotherapy and radiation and the doctors appointments and the good and the bad and when I say I’m lucky to have this experience, don’t think Im crazy. I miss her so fucking much. But this experience made me who I am. The ups and the downs, the laughing, the arguing, the vacations and trips, the days at home. All of it has molded me into the person I am now. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. She was supposed to see me graduate and go to college, I was supposed to see her kick cancer’s ass. But cancer is cruel. Cancer is dark seas and long sleepless nights. Cancer is hurricanes and tornadoes and blizzards. Cancer is a week long power outage. Cancer is devastating. Cancer is tragic, Cancer is reality. It’s uncontrollable. It’s not all make a wish and romance and it’s not beautiful. If you were lucky enough to love someone with cancer, and then unfortunate enough to lose them, I am so so sorry. But we are here together. And we can remember together.

I saw how long it was, got up, made a sandwich, then came back and got comfortable

my mom passed away form cancer this month and yesterday we had the funeral. She was only 43 and I have never seen my grandpa cry before but there it happened. My grandma is also batteling cancer right now and its not easy. I think especially my grandpa blames himself and its horrible because we couldnt do anything to stop it. Maybe I'm watching this now to cope with it somehow even tho I watched this so many years ago already. But now it hits different. idk why I'm rambling on now, I'm sorry

I've watched 3 gamers play this and I bawled my eyes out every time because when I first saw it, I didn't think Joel was a real kid.

Ive watched about 4 different youtubers play this game by now, and each video is incredibly different yet still amazing.

I’ve been a fan of Unus Annus all year, and I’ve been watching some of Ethan’s videos recently. This showed up on my recommended today. My grandfather got diagnosed with cancer about a month ago. Multiple times during this video, I broke down into tears. The parts that hit me the hardest were when he was reading the cards and when Joel wouldn’t stop crying. This game was absolutely stunning, and I loved to hear Ethan talk at the end. RU-vid recommended me something right for once. :)

My mom was diagnosed with Chron's when I was 2. She didn't tell me while I was growing up because I wouldn't understand. Then, she had a bad sudden outbreak/attack when I was 8. She told me it was just something she ate. She was in the hospital for a few days. Unfortunately, it is a chronic disease so it has no cure really. She didn't have another bad flare up until when I was 9 when she complained about pain in her appendix. My dad looked into it even though he knew what was wrong. He just wanted to make me think that there was a cure when there wasn't. She was taken to the hospital. She was there for a few months. She couldn't eat very much and she couldn't eat a lot of stuff without it adding to her sickness. She just sat there for most of the days alone because I was busy with school. She got surgery to remove her appendix, which would help, but the disease would still be there. She came home and couldn't walk for weeks. And couldn't eat popcorn, bread, etc. It was hard. Being a teenager and not being able to talk to your mom about your problems because with chron's if she gets stressed, it makes her have another flare up and would be back in the hospital. So I just had to keep it all in. I am 14 and am about to graduate 8th grade from an amazing school. I switched schools in the middle of the year last year from a really crappy Catholic school that was so strict, it completely made me think all religions were like that. When I transfrerred, I realized what a loving community I was put in. In my class we have 13 kids in the whole eighth grade with 3 special ed kids. 1 with asburgers, 1 with really bad autism and speech problems, and one with a deformity where she doesn't have an elbow joint. I love them all to death and they made me believe in God again. They truly have made me who I am today. There is hope, it will get better, I promise.

By far, this has to be the saddest games I've seen. I've lost numerous of people to cancer, the most recent being my friends father a few years ago, who Ive known since I was a baby. It hurts to see how much cancer really affects the ones around you. I remember losing my cousin to cancer a while back, and it really hurt me, bc I rarely talked to them or get to know them. Seeing that they're gone now, it makes me wish I can start over again and get to interact with them more.

Hey Ethan, thanks for making this and passing it around for others to see. I did my own recording on this and it hit home. I went through my own battle with cancers and lost a lot in the process. I'm extremely happy that you did this and you earned a shit ton of my respect playing this game.

I started crying when you did and through out the entire game. This was absolutely beautiful, you did a great job. Thank you, I am *SO PROUD* of you Ethan. You have changed my life and helped me keep holding on when all i wanted to do was let go. So thank you so much.