TAMPA, Fla. - An appeal to playing video games, the player is in control. 


What You Need To Know


“I am trying to beat tower of spiraling heights," said John Ranck, sitting on the front steps of his house, iPad in hand. 

He is 10. Total control for a 10-year-old, the appeal is not hard to understand. It's been a tough year for Ranck, and not just because of the pandemic. 

On December 31, 2019, John's mom got some really bad news. 

“I got a phone call from my urologist, I am thinking he is going to go over the results. He says, ‘You have lesions in your liver and your lungs, you have stage four cancer,’” said Jennifer Ranck, John's mom.  

Their entire family was floored. Jennifer was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, a rare cancer. 

“It’s obviously hard to have a stage four cancer diagnosis, there is no stage five. There is no curing of this cancer. I am going to have cancer for the rest of my life," said Jennifer. 

For John, the news was beyond tough to take. 

“I felt like there was nothing I could do and things were just going to get worse," said John. 

He felt helpless, like so many do when dealing with cancer. But John is not the type of kid to remain helpless. He quickly got an idea. 

“I saw someone else who was streaming a lot everyday to raise money for their dad’s cancer treatments so I thought, 'I can play Roblox’s, I can do that,'" said John. 

He created an account on Twitch and began streaming the game Roblox, that he and so many other kids are playing today. Along with streaming, he decided to raise money for Moffitt Cancer Center.

“I gave it to Moffitt because my mom goes to Moffitt to help with her cancer treatment," said John. "So this was indirectly helping my mom.”

To date he has raised $450 for Moffitt. 

“I definitely don’t take many opportunities to be a braggy mom, but ya know, I think I am happy to brag a little bit about this one," said Jennifer. 

“It makes me feel good that I have a little bit of control over this," said John. 

He plans to continue to livestream him playing Roblox twice a month to continue to raise money for Moffit and the Leiomyosarcoma Support & Direct Research Foundation. 

He will also be livestreaming Friday at 11 a.m. to support him click here