Growing up with ulcerative colitis, I've been to the hospital a few times in my life. Once when I was in the third grade I was in the hospital for two weeks. Constant cramping, couldn't stop the bleeding, couldn't eat anything and I could barely drink any large amounts of fluids. It was pretty awful for my parents to watch. That was until my father discovered I stopped complaining completely once I started playing video games. My dad brought over my N64 from the house and bought almost every used game our local Blockbuster was selling for the console. (Back then the games were insanely inexpensive) Not only did I get about 30+ games that day, including classics like Glover, Super Mario 64, Chameleon Twist, and SSB 64, the doctors were so amazed at my immediate turnaround in pain tolerance they convinced one of the local Tampa Bay Buccaneers players to buy a few dozen N64s for the entire children's ward at the hospital.
Back then I was just getting into gaming and I owe so much of my early tastes to that moment. And needless to say I'm glad I was vicariously able to help out other sick kids at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Tampa.