A 15 year old boy who was gaming for 22 hours a day over the period of a month suffered a stroke.
Many people have turned to gaming to pass the time during the pandemic.
The boy from China reportedly only slept 2 hours a day during the month period before his stroke, and rejected food from his parents.
It all started when the boys mother bought him a smart phone to catch up on work he had at school; she basically gave him a platform to work online, and research things he needed to research. And in all fairness, he did do that – to start with. The teen then soon got into mobile games, where he would play against his friends, and it developed into sort of an obsession, where he’d end up playing hours upon hours of the game, barely sleeping.
His mother said it got to the point where she’d leave him out food, under the impression he was working, and she’d come back for the dishes and they’d still have food on them.
So far, the 15 year old has gone through months of therapy after his illness, where parts of his body went numb and unmovable as a result of the stroke.
His mother, Ms Meng, said: “My husband and I would leave for work early every morning and not come home until after 6pm.
“Xiao Bin would stay at home alone by himself. He would continue to use his phone at night, saying he was still catching up with the day’s lessons.
It seems he was missing out on vital vitamins and minerals, and was surviving on snacks and treats in his bedroom.
“He was just playing games. He didn’t have proper meals and didn’t rest. He slept two hours a day at most.
“Then on 1 March, my husband called to say our son had collapsed.
“He had fainted and was sitting limp by the side of his bed. We called an ambulance.
“They did a CT scan at the local hospital and said he had had a stroke. They said we had to bring him to Nanning.”
The stroke was apparently as a result of the bad diet, and the lack of sleep won’t have helped either. The facial and arm problems are a little better now, with the boy being able to move his left arm and parts of his hand.
Neurologist Li Chunhong said: “He hadn’t gone back to school and had an irregular schedule.
“His lifestyle had changed, and his parents let him eat nothing but snacks.
“Medically speaking, he lacked nutrients, and his brain lacked blood and oxygen, causing his stroke.”
He explained: “It’s very difficult for us to determine whether he can make a full recovery.
“However, the sooner you intervene, the faster the recovery. This is especially the case for younger patients who tend to recover faster.”
