Bay Area native wins $10M on MrBeast’s gameshow
By Kelsi Thorud
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SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Bay Area native Jeffrey Allen won $10 million as a contestant on the Prime Video Original Series Beast Games.
“It was, I mean I’m getting goosebumps right now talking about it, it was just a special moment,” said Allen.
Allen said he got the idea to go on the competition series from his 9-year-old son Jack.
“He introduced me to MrBeast early last year, and I saw the application pop up and I kind of go, wow it’s a cool opportunity to kind of be the cool dad to my 9-year-old but also have a platform to talk about my 7-year-old’s rare disease,” said Allen.
His son Lucas has a condition called Creatine Transporter Deficiency or CTD.
“His activities of daily living he will always need help with. Severely cognitively delayed, developmentally delayed. Kids with his condition are prone to seizure, low muscle tone and currently there’s no therapy, there’s no cure, there’s no treatment,” said Allen.
He said since Lucas’s diagnosis, his family has worked tirelessly to bring awareness to CTD and push for more research into it.
“But with a rare disease, it’s tough to get academia or big pharma interested in it,” said Allen.
That’s where Beast Games became the perfect platform.
He said his goal was always to share Lucas’s story but winning the show’s $10 million jackpot was a dream come true.
“Forever blessed that we can use that money for good. We can make sure our family’s taken care of but also that other families with CTD, that we develop, kind of invest into research to ultimately find a therapy for our kiddos,” said Allen.
He said his family is already working to fund research into CTD but even his winnings won’t be enough.
“To find a therapy, first discover one, then to test it and make sure it’s safe and effective, then to push it through clinical trials costs anywhere between $30 and $40 million total,” said Allen.
That’s why he is now embarking on a new adventure.
Rucking 365 miles from the east border of California all the way to the Pacific Ocean to raise even more money for CTD research.
“We’ll start in the desert which is kind of fitting, to have a handful of days in the desert and we’ll end up closer to Santa Barbara and you know the ultimate aim is to walk literally right into the ocean to end it,” said Allen.
His journey will begin bright and early Tuesday.
He will be carrying the exact weight of his son Lucas along the way, all in the hope of one day finding a treatment or even cure for his youngest son.
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