It's never goodbye - sometimes, it's "Thank You" again.

February 15, 2008, 8:38 pm EST

Every year around this time, you can find a post on our front page saying goodbye to Brian Morden. (2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004 | 2003 - for some reason, the 2005 toast came in our forum.) Brian was 19 when he died; he lost his battle with Ewing's Sarcoma less than a year after celebrating the end of his chemotherapy. He came to the attention of Bungie in the summer of 2001; the Make-A-Wish Foundation had organized a visit because of Brian's love for the company's games. While he was out there, Marty had him record some dialogue lines - one of those lines made it into Halo, and another made it into Halo 2. When his brother announced his death on our forum, the outpouring of emotion was mindboggling. Lots of people die of cancer every year - why is Brian special?

You can read volumes of material that Bungie fans have written about Brian - but what it all boils down to, at least for me, is that Brian epitomizes a spirit of hope. He showed me (and many other people) that no matter how bleak the outlook, no matter how defined the end might be, there is no reason not to live what's left in good spirits, to look forward to every new morning. Brian was only a teenager - but I find myself STILL learning from him, in terms of how he handled adversity.

Not long ago, Frank O'Connor asked me if I knew of any "Halo Community-relevant charities" - he had a piece of artwork, and wanted to donate it (or more specifically, the proceeds from its sale) to a worthy cause. The Brian Morden Foundation was the first thing that popped into my head - it was started because Brian's parents wanted to do something helpful with the gifts that came in from their community after Brian died, but it's grown into something much bigger. It is now an organization that is helping to fund the search for a cure for Ewing's Sarcoma (and many other related cancers). I figured a picture, drawn by Frankie, of an iconic character loved by many, would raise a few hundred dollars for a truly worthy cause.

Little did I know how crazy this auction would get. As I write this, there is half an hour left, and the top bid is $6,100. It gets better, though: we were able to broker a deal with PayPal and eBay whereby fees were reduced, or credited back to the Foundation - so they'll be receiving 100% of the final bid amount. (We'd planned to give them all of the money minus our costs - but if our costs are $0, they get the whole shebang.) I can't thank the PayPal team we worked with enough on this one; not only were they instrumental in maximizing the benefit to the BMF, they are making sure that all of the normal headaches that can happen with a large payment like this are handled smoothly behind the scenes. Someone in that organization actually saw the auction on Bungie.net - and went to the trouble of making sure that all roadblocks were leveled before we even knew they existed.

The karma Brian built up during his life just keeps coming back - not long ago, Brian's mother received a letter from Blindlight, an agency responsible for making sure that voice talent on the Halo video games is properly compensated. Since Brian's voice, as an actor, was used on the extra DVDs included with Halo 3, Blindlight needed to find out how to get a check to his estate to compensate him for this use. The check was enough to buy Brian's brother a new Xbox 360 and Halo 3 (along with some other goodies) - it seemed like a fitting use of the check. (It almost went nowhere - Brian's mother nearly threw the letter away, thinking it had to be a scam of some sort.)

With every anniversary of Brian's death, I'm saddened anew... but at the same time, I'm amazed by how much good has come from this tragedy. Thank you to the entire Halo community for your participation in this auction - almost 40,000 pageviews, 88 bids, and a final price of $6100. Congratulations to bandicat on his new artwork, and his Recon armor - your bid was astoundingly generous, and it warms my heart to think of the good your money will do. Thanks of course to Frank O'Connor, for the creation of the Mister Chief piece in the first place, and the decision to give it away to a good cause. Thanks to Bungie for letting this happen, and for tossing in Recon armor (and some Halo 3 gaming with the winner). Thanks to PayPal, and eBay, for going out of their way to make this donation go as far as it possibly can. And thanks of course to the Brian Morden Foundation, for its work towards making sure others don't suffer the fate that Brian had to suffer.