GrandPooBear visits research lab in support of Wings for Life
GrandPooBear visiting the research facility of the University of Texas.
© Foreword Films / Red Bull Content Pool
How did the Holiday Spectacular fundraiser get started? And how has it evolved to be the fundraiser event it is today?
The Holiday Spectacular was born out of Covid. Originally we were going to do a big giant traditional speedrun marathon and then when Covid 19 happened — we had something set that summer, but we pushed it back a month and pushed it back a month — and eventually we just realized this isn't going to work and we’re not going to be able to do this, so let's shift this and take this money and make an online show.
I love "SNL" and the old "Star Wars Holiday Special" and "The Muppet Show," and stuff like that. So when I think of Christmas, I think of friends, family and music and it was around Christmas time when we were going to do this and I was like let's make a variety show!
It might be a hit, it might be completely whack and nobody will like it, but at least we’ll do it. Since we had the money budgeted already, it was like lets just throw it out there and see what happens. And it ended up not only a ton of fun, but an incredibly successful event and it’s been growing from there. Year after year, we keep going.
The vagus stimulation tasks involving carefully developed video games.
© Foreword Films / Red Bull Content Pool
This isn’t a charity where your money gets donated and then you don't really hear about it.
How did you get to go on this lab tour?
Wings for Life approached me and asked if I’d like to see where our money is going that we’re raising every year and I jumped at the chance. And not just raise the money, but when you actually see the fruits of your labor and actually see people affected by it, it can really just re-motivate you.
The chance to get it all on camera, it seemed like a good opportunity for us to make something a little bit timeless and really show the world what we’re doing here and that progress is being made. This isn’t a charity where your money gets donated and then you don't really hear about it.
The opportunity to share what I’ve learned with my audience, I think it’s made my entire community and everyone around me just very motivated to keep helping and working with Wings for Life.
The chip sends gentle electric impulses to the brain via the vagus nerve.
© Karlo Ramos / Red Bull Content Pool
What was something surprising you learned during your lab tour?
There were absolutely surprising things. Just the fact that people are gaining so much movement from this clinical trial. This vagus nerve stimulation clinical trial is really only being done on less than 50 people so far, but to see the progress of those 50 people, with a microchip you could put in their neck in less than a half hour — it’s not even a big surgery, it’s very fast.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about these people is that none of them have given up, they’re all working and now they make progress into that work. A lot of times their progress kind of caps at a certain point. Now the work they’re doing is showing progress and it makes them more motivated and makes them more excited.
I did not realize that people were going from virtually very little hand movement to the ability to handle their entire day-to-day lives with their hands.
How has going on this lab tour changed your perspective on the future of spinal cord injury? What do you hope to see next?
If there’s one thing I’ve realized in the 5 years now I’ve worked with Wings for Life, the only thing that’s stopping us from solving this — which is kind of crazy because 5 years ago it didn’t feel like that — and the only thing that's stopping people with spinal cord injury from walking and using their hands again is money. That is the biggest barrier.
Solving this problem is not a big money maker for anyone, so it's not something companies want to invest in. It’s something we have to do as a grassroots approach. That's my biggest takeaway, it's something we can be fixing if we had enough money and manpower behind it. If it was a profitable thing to fix, we’d be seeing the end of it before the decade is over.
Dr. Michael Kilgard showing GrandPooBear the chip, which is implanted.
© Foreword Films / Red Bull Content Pool
What did it feel like at the end of the 2023 Holiday Spectacular and your audience crushed your goal once again? What made it feel special this time?
Every year I'm like ‘Oh we can’t beat last year,’ especially as I get older. As I get older, my industry keeps getting younger. And you can ask anyone that's worked with me, the week before, I'm just like ‘Oh my god, this is going to be a failure.’ I have these freak out moments. And every single year it blows me away, every single year we do more and more and it's incredible.
The people we’ve had, the musical artists, all of them have gone multiple years now and it means so much to me. When we started, they were all just streamers and now they're giant artists and they do it out of the goodness of their hearts now. I'm just really, really grateful. I just feel grateful to the friends and families that help me out. Grateful to Red Bull for all the support. I'm really grateful that all the magic has been created because of all that.
Why do you think there's a strong connection with Wings for life and your gaming world and community?
Gaming now is such a big part of everyone’s rehab in general. The lab tour, they did a ton of gaming out there. I game with people who are quadriplegic and paraplegic in different ways and they have different controllers they use. I think gaming is one of the main spaces of outlets for people who are suffering from spinal cord injury because gaming has been so helpful in helping people adapt, whether it's with controllers or game devs helping with different options with the games. Even color blind options, which is such a huge thing — that didn’t happen 10 years ago. The way gaming helps accessibilities is just a beautiful thing and I think it's part of the reason why this crossover has worked so well for us with the Holiday Spectacular.
Michael Darrow and a colleague working on the chip.
© Karlo Ramos / Red Bull Content Pool
What comes next?
We hope to take the event from online only to an event that people can come and watch and dance and celebrate live. That's definitely my next goal, live skits. That’s my next goal over the next year or two to make that happen. And to continue to raise amazing money and hopefully my dollars can be the dollars that put us over the top.
Where will you be running for this year's Wings for Life World Run?
I’m up in Lake Tahoe, so I got a high elevation run! For my run, I'm going to start at the top of a hill and we’re going to try to hit the most downhill that I can before I have to go back uphill. That’s my goal, ride as much downhill as I can, stay away from that virtual car as long as I can with the downhill. Let gravity do its work, there’s a lot of elevation here and once I hit that elevation, it's pretty done for me.