That's me and my best friend, Travis. (He's the one on the left.) He's a gamer, just like you and I --- He's even the one who first introduced me to the wondrous place called Destructoid. :P He has an account here, but he's not much of a blogger. He's more of a stalker, and he reads a ton on this site. Yes, we're both creepy-looking and I apparently have demon eyes.

A few years back, Travis was involved in a horrific accident, falling about 40 feet off a cliff and into a waterfall. Luckily, his cell phone worked even though it had been completely submerged in the water, and he was able to call for help. However, he paid quite a price --- He is now paralyzed from the waist down after his legs were crushed by the fall.

Just recently, Travis found a hospital in China that has created a special type of surgery specifically for this kind of condition. Since the accident is still recent enough, this surgery has a good chance of reversing its effects and allowing Travis to be able to walk again after the recovery process. Nothing would make both my friend and me happier than to see this happen. But things like this don't come cheap --- The entire ordeal will cost upwards of about $20,000-25,000. Not a small number, I'm afraid.

I have created a beneficiary fund at a local credit union (University Credit Union in Utah) in order to raise money to help Travis travel to China and get this surgery. I am begging all of you, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, to donate some money to this fund. I'm not asking you to break the bank and give me your life savings or anything --- Look at how many people are registered on Destructoid. Even a few dollars would be an immense help if everyone donated.

I know I don't know any of you on here personally, and I know this is kinda random to all of a sudden be asking you for money. But as you've read, it's for a very good cause, and I want to do whatever I can for my friend before time beats us and nothing can be done at all. I promise all of you, this isn't some kind of a Nigerian scam or anything --- I've contacted Niero personally and he gave me the okay to put this into motion, both in the cblogs and the forums.

If you're willing to donate any money, please send a PayPal payment to travis_fund@hotmail.com. If PayPal is an issue, just let me know if you still want to donate and we can figure something out.

Please forgive me if this gets reposted, or if this in fact is a repost. I just want to make sure everyone reads it. Thank you all again for being here and reading this message. Please, don't hesitate to PM me if you have any questions at all. I know some of you are already on my PS3 Friends List, too, so you can send me a message on there, too.

UPDATES BELOW

Here is Travis' MySpace page. His page has a few pictures from after his accident, including a very nasty scar down his back. Also, Travis uploaded a video of one of the local news reports for me to put up here.