Video games can take us anywhere —and that's a powerful ability that can mean the world for some, like the Firstenberg family.


After attempting cancer treatments last year, Roberta Firstenberg was told she had a few months to live. And since she had trouble getting around and being mobile, one of her dying wishes was to go outside in her own yard—but her granddaughter, Priscilla, went even further and got an Oculus Rift headset so that her grandmother could virtually travel to places like Italy. Virtual reality also meant her grandmother could do things like walk up stairs again, making the experience seem particularly potent.

Unfortunately, Roberta Firstenberg died about four weeks after trying the Oculus Rift—but at least she got another chance to travel.


(Daily Dot, via Engadget)