Grandmother who uses World of Warcraft to cope with cancer became the heart of a new documentary

The surgery couldn’t cure Terry, but it did give her a shot at a longer life. When BlizzCon actually happened in 2013, the family went as planned.

Terry’s sister, Tedi, who had gotten her into World of Warcraft to start with, went as a Pandaren, and Terry went as her level 30 Goblin. She has two max-level characters, but she felt that little one just looked more like her, Andie said.

Getting the goblin in the picture: The movie shoot begins

Video professionals shot 17 hours of film a day with them from the convention, Andie said. After they finished, Hardwick suggested that it could be something more. The family and crew had talked with other players who had used WoW as therapy during hard times, whether from personal issues or medical ones.

What about telling all of these stories, not just Terry’s? And so the documentary was born.

“When your mom goes from ‘I don’t want to do this any more’ to ‘Hey, let’s make a movie,’ you get really motivated,” Andie said. They’ve been working on the film for 18 months, with labor from a variety of industry professionals who mostly worked for free.

“Well, I bought pizza today. …” Andie joked. When I spoke with her, she had five people camped in her living room, answering questions on the Kickstarter. “My sound guy, who never gives me a discount, ever, wouldn’t let me pay him.

“Over the years in this industry, you lose faith. This project has flipped that on its head.”

The Warcraft community offers its support

All of it is the result of Hardwick’s nudging and the incredible family that Warcraft players have become for her mom, Andie said.

“You don’t talk about what’s going on with your family or your husband, because they worry. You talk to the people online,” she said. While the deaths of other cancer patients Terry has met online has been a blow, she’s been supported and befriended by players all across the country and in Canada.

Andie said she first found out how much those players meant to her mother when they made the trek to the mailbox at the end of the drive and found a package of juice inside.

It turns out some game friends in Canada had mailed it because they read the juice could help cancer patients.

“I said, this is so weird — who are these people? People from in-game, she said. She and my aunt totally reconnected and became best friends because of Warcraft.”

Terry talks with her friends online about things she won’t talk with her husband or daughter about, Andie said. “Dad still thinks it’s called World of Witchcraft.

“My mom is a strong lady. I didn’t realize how little she was talking about it at home. When my mom got sick, she said, ‘Eh, the last thing your father wants to hear about is that. I didn’t want to be a burden.’ I didn’t realize she never told him anything.

“In game, you’re accomplishing something, not just talking about your problems. For her, she’s not a burden to her loved ones.”

‘They don’t have to know you’re sick’

The family knows the future probably isn’t bright. But having friends in Warcraft, including some who had cancer themselves or who had family members with the disease, has helped her mother, Andie said.

“You can be beautiful, strong, a handsome man, an elf,” Terry said. “Anything you wanna be, or can’t be in real life. You can go to a new world where you can meet new friends, and they don’t have to know you’re sick.”

Andie warned her mother that, like all things on the Internet, the documentary might meet with some negative reaction.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re an adorable grandma, the trolls are going to come,” Andie told her. “She’s like, ‘I don’t care. I’m spreading awareness [of NET].’ ”

Andie says if there’s one thing she hopes people get from the film, it’s that it is OK to share the difficulties they experience with their loved ones, no matter where they are.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re online or sitting next to you, it’s okay to talk with them,” Andie said. “People are going to see the positive side of the gaming community. Maybe buy them a game you can play together. …

“There’s never a remission. We don’t use the word remission with this kind of cancer. My therapist should get producer credit on this film. But opening up this world has been fascinating and amazing.”