Dear coders of Paradise Bay,

Thank you.

You helped a person through the toughest year of her life.

Your adorable little game about buying, selling, and storage space that I’ve been playing on my phone for a year is done.

The end of an era.

Is it silly to cry about a phone game? Well, here I am. Missing all the islands, goofy characters, and making island pizza.

I finished level 80 a few days ago and sold the last of the bananas, pearls, and music boxes today.

At the lowest price.

It wasn’t about the gold coins. It was about going on. Day after day when I was in such horrid pain. One more day. One more level. One more. I wanted to see what was next, to make that next recipe or silly toy to sell.

You probably thought that as a computer person, a coder or game designer that you don’t change the world or help people, but you do. You do.

You helped me through some of my darkest days and darkest nights. To make it through 4 experimental surgeries to help the next hundreds to thousands who will follow me. To allow my surgeon to experiment on me to help others and spread the word about what treatments help and which ones don’t.

So, when you face your cubicle on a random Monday, take heart. What you do does make a difference.

Sincerely,

Suze

Image from Paradise Bay by King. 2015