So there was a recent post I had made correlating my battle with cancer to things I felt translated into Dungeons & Dragons. I had made the original post on the r/dnd subreddit and it had garnered quite a bit of attention and it was almost all positive.
In this swarm of comments there were two that stuck out most. The first was from Matt Mercer. Anyone who loves DnD knows the legendary Dungeon Master from the online streaming series Critical Role. I had responded to as many comments as I could and in the fray, I literally just tried to say thank you in response. I hadn't put two and two together when the username "matthewmercer" dropped a positive comment. I immediately jumped into my dnd discord chat to verify the username was indeed the man, the myth, the legend. I was a bit starstruck as most nerdfolk might be at this sort of thing. It seemed to validate the positive responses I had been getting even more-so, because it showed me that I had really struck a chord with those who were really into the hobby. Even the pros!
How does NPR fit in the mix? Well, I don't know if it was the Matt Mercer stamp of approval or just the amount of comments I had amassed, but I then received a message from someone claiming to be with NPR. He gave links to his credentials so I knew he wasn't some troll trying to get a nibble in. Turned out he was legit and I have an interview scheduled to be on a podcast showcasing inspiring reddit stories like mine.
I'm humbled that something like National Public Radio would take an interest in a story like mine and honored that they would choose me to be interviewed. I'm also nervous as hell. It may not be Carnegie Hall, but a crowd is a crowd, and this has potential to reach hundreds of thousands of people if the right market is tapped.
So wish me luck! I'll post a link to the podcast as soon as It's published.
-LB