It's Not Just A Game

A Downers Grove father is honoring his son who passed away last year after battling leukemia.

Michael Rheintgen has started a non-profit in his son's name to support children during their fight against leukemia.

The first goal for the Matthew Rheintgen Memorial Fund is to collect enough money to buy 5 gaming consoles for the Hope Children's Memorial Hospital in Oak Lawn, where Matthew was treated. Why gaming consoles? Well, it was actually Matthew's idea.

Just before he passed away, Matthew told his father he wanted to leave some money behind so the hospital could buy an XBOX for the kids being treated there. Matthew's giving nature inspired Michael to do something more.

On the website Michael created for the non-profit, he explains why he wants to get at least 5 XBOX systems for the kids at the hospital:

"Like Matt, many children spend months in the hospital and have limited visitation because of compromised immune systems or because they are too weak to get out of bed. Visitations may be further limited by how far family or friends live from the hospital. Contact may consist of talking to family and friends on the phone or reading cards and letters that are sent to them. There is not much in the way of entertainment other than TV with few channels and even video games get boring when you can only play them by yourself. So as you can see, It’s not just a game! These gaming systems can connect hospitalized children with the outside world."

I think it's wonderful that Matthew's kindness inspired his father to create a non-profit to help other kids.

To find out more about the non-profit and how you can donate, check out MattsHope.org.

There's also a really nice article in the Suburban Life about the memorial fund: Memorial Fund raises money for gaming systems to help children connect