Back in October, an Arizona-based grandma began a series of YouTube videos in which she plays Minecraft to help pay for her grandson's cancer treatment. Today, 17-year-old grandson Jack Self is "cancer free" and "feeling great."
81-year-old Sue Jacquot never envisioned herself a gamer, but in an effort to connect with her grandchildren, Jack and Austin, she began learning the ropes this past summer. And just a few months later, she felt confident enough to share her adventures with the world and start a YouTube channel called GrammaCrackers, all with the intention of easing the financial burden of Jack's aggressive cancer treatment.
Her first video, a genuinely life-affirming 15-minute introduction titled 'The BEST START EVER', quickly went viral and now has more than half a million views. It, along with every subsequent video, has a link to Jack's GoFundMe, which at the time of writing has more than $42,000 in donations. Meanwhile, the GrammaCrackers YouTube channel currently has almost 200,000 subscribers, the proceeds of which all go to Jack's treatment.
ABC 15 recently had the chance to visit Jacquot's family in Queen Creek, Arizona, and received wonderful news. "I am cancer free," said Jack. "I'm feeling great."
Jack was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer called sarcoma in 2024 and has since undergone more than 200 chemotherapy treatments. For Jacquot, getting into Minecraft and YouTube was a no-brainer, even as someone who didn't much play games previously.
"I was never really curious about it, but when you have grandkids who want to interact with you, you do it," she said, adding that she's received an outpouring of support, from prayers to uplifting messages, since she started her YouTube channel.
Jack's brother Austin said "we were all mind blown that she was able to figure it out and then it just kind of went from there," and as for Jack, "it was just very sweet to watch everybody being so kind to me and my grandma."
