April 18, 2025 • 34 mins
MamaTurbo shares the moving story of her son TheTrueTurbo, a passionate Pokémon fan, Shiny Hunter, and Twitch streamer who lived with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). From childhood memories to his transition into streaming during the pandemic, she reflects on TheTrueTurbo’s resilience, his love for gaming, and the incredible community that rallied around him. The conversation also explores the emotional weight of his passing and the legacy he left behind, not only as a creator, but as a source of inspiration.
Listen now to hear how one Pokémon Trainer’s story continues to shine through the people who loved him most.
🔗 Pokemon Trainers Living With Disabilities
Discover more powerful stories from Pokémon Trainers living with disabilities.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
MamaTurbo (00:00):
I'm Mama Turbo, and this is Turbo's Pokemon Story.
David Hernandez (00:42):
Welcome to as the Pickleball Turns, where we
interview people about theirexperience with Pokemon.
My name is David Hernandez.
I'm joined by a relative ofsomebody that was mentioned in
the episode of Dragon Tamer Tomand she's here to share her
experience, not only withPokemon, but also with her son
and what the franchise kind ofdid for her, both through
(01:03):
Pokemon and Streaming.
MamaTurbo, Welcome to As theBall Turns.
MamaTurbo (01:07):
Thank you.
David Hernandez (01:08):
we were talking just before this and you have
such a unique perspective ofyour son and his journey.
One thing I wanna start off withis I wanna start off with his
disability.
You give insight to what Turbo'sdisability was and how it kind
of affected his life.
Before we kind of dive into thePokemon side of things,
MamaTurbo (01:27):
Turbo had what was called Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
It's under the umbrella of theMuscular Dystrophy Association.
He was diagnosed at 15 monthsold, and it is a disease that
slowly you lose differentthings.
And in his case, he was neverable to walk.
He was able to use his hands andhe was able to use his arms.
(01:47):
he used a motorized wheelchairas he got older.
He graduated from college, sohe's a college student.
He was a college graduate.
And, did whatever he reallywanted to do.
I raised him to do whatever hefelt he could do.
Sometimes there was limitationsand we figured out how to get
around it.
David Hernandez (02:06):
it must be hard as a parent, to see your kid,
you know, have to go throughthat kind of disability.
You know, you wanna see your kidkind of become who they are.
But then you also, on one sideyou see the disability and the
potential.
Situations.
How did you kind of find thatbalance to where you empowered
turbo to go and do what he feltcalled to while also, I guess
keep in mind, in his disability,like Did you ever feel like you
(02:27):
had accidentally limited him bychance or something like that?
MamaTurbo (02:30):
No, I wouldn't allow it.
him and his brother who had thesame neuromuscular disease.
They were raised to do whateverthey felt they could do with
limitations.
I'll tell you a brief story.
When Turbo was young, he hadn'tgotten his wh any of his
wheelchairs yet, and he was inan umbrella stroller and I
forget where we were going.
(02:51):
And we got somewhere and therewas a flight of stairs.
And Turbo looked at me and hesays to me, ma, how are we
gonna, I said, no problem.
I lifted him up in his umbrellastroller, and we went up the
flight of stairs.
And that's the way Turbo's lifewas.
Whatever you want to accomplish,you can.
David Hernandez (03:08):
And I think that's so powerful because it's
so easy to either judge peopleby their disability or even for
people who live withdisabilities, to feel that
they're, I don't wanna sayhelpless, but that they're less
than.
And I feel like as regularpeople, or at least for me, you
sometimes focus too much onperfection.
That if you aren't a specificway and something's wrong, and I
think it's rewarding to see howyou, despite turbo's,
(03:32):
limitations from the outside,you never let that stop him.
And I applaud you for that.
That's, that's powerful.
I.
MamaTurbo (03:37):
Yeah, that's the way he was raised.
I would not allow him nor hisbrother in any shape make matter
or form you could do.
Just because you were in awheelchair and you had
limitations, didn't mean youcouldn't do something.
You were no different thananybody else.
David Hernandez (03:52):
Now let's let the script a little bit, your
role in this is that Turbowanted to be a streamer and you
kind of helped him.
MamaTurbo (03:59):
a minute.
Wait a minute.
Turbo originally wanted to gointo TV production Fortunately,
his disability kept him out ofbeing anywhere near television
production, because of thelimitations of the wheelchair,
he did have a couple ofinterviews to get jobs, but
because of the disability, hecouldn't get one.
that basically was his dream.
(04:20):
But became a streamer because ofCovid.
Covid put a halt on his lifebecause prior to that, turbo
was.
At Rock concerts, he was DJing,he was involved with an
organization out in New Jersey,that's no longer there, but it
was an Under My Skin For LifeFoundation is the name of the
foundation.
(04:41):
And what they did is they helpeda lot of people with different
things.
we raised money for autism.
We raised money for breastcancer.
Turbo was involved in thisorganization.
oh, to Turbo also ran, him andhis brother put together
something called Rock AgainstDystrophy.
And what that was, was, is hegot rock bands to play and
(05:02):
people would come and they wouldpay to see the bands.
And the money that was raisedwas donated to the Muscular
Dystrophy Association.
Turbo did have covid, thank Godit didn't take him.
that's when he decided, ma, Ihave to do something.
I don't know how long this isgoing to last.
I cannot sit here doing nothing.
(05:22):
I don't know how he found thestreaming community that I can't
tell you I don't remember.
All I remember is him saying tome, ma, I wanna stream.
I said, knock yourself out.
David Hernandez (05:34):
And so when he came to you and he told you that
I wanted to stream ma how'd thatconversation happen and what
were the next steps that eitheryou or him took?
MamaTurbo (05:42):
At that particular time, turbo was still very
mobile.
he could play a lot of gamesbecause he was able to, set the
controller for one-handedcontrols.
So he was able to play a lot ofdifferent games.
Of course, as not being able tomaneuver and go out because of
Covid.
That's when you start losingthings with his form of
(06:04):
disability.
It's the old story.
If you don't use it, you loseit.
It's the same as for us.
you stop doing certain thingsfor whatever reason you break a
leg or whatever you wind updoing, you, you're gonna lose
it.
And because he couldn't get outand start moving around like he
did before,'cause he went all,we went all over the place.
David Hernandez (06:26):
Mm-hmm.
MamaTurbo (06:26):
oh, you name the concert took Turbo.
If Turbo didn't go with me, hehad friends that went with him.
He would take Access-A-Ride herein the city and usually I would
pick him up in the city.
So Turbo had no limitationsuntil Covid hit.
Covid is what made him astreamer?
David Hernandez (06:43):
It sounds like it was a double-edged sword in a
way to where a, I don't wannasay motivated, it kind of was a
catalyst to lead him intostreaming and to lead him into
that, I guess, closeneighborhood of production.
The downside was, it also, itsounded like put a timer on him.
MamaTurbo (07:00):
He was, he was getting weaker as time went on.
but the icing on the cake isbasically when his brother
passed, I think he kind of gaveup.
David Hernandez (07:12):
Must have been very difficult for both you and
him to go through.
MamaTurbo (07:16):
Well, his brother passed here in the house.
So, and even though they weren'tclose, because his brother had,
medical conditions where they,they really, when they were
younger, used to be in the sameroom playing video games, but
his brother wound up with amedical situation where he wound
up with a trach and a feedingtube and he had to have nurses
(07:37):
and he couldn't come in hisbrother's room like he used to
and play video games with hisbrother.
So, but when his brother passed,he kind of gave up, I think.
David Hernandez (07:49):
What do you remember about, turbo and his
brother playing games?
Like what was that kind of aconnection relationship like?
MamaTurbo (07:54):
oh, they were wicked.
They, oh, they were wicked.
when the cube was out, theyplayed animal crossings.
We played animal crossings, thethree of us.
And when they got older and Johnwent into the streaming, his
brother, Jay would watch and Jayall his brother Jay also watched
Tom a lot.
(08:14):
But the streaming was what hewanted to do.
It kept his mind occupied, itgave him what to do.
It gave him purpose, gave himreason to get up every morning.
He got up every morning.
he had a good morning messagefor everybody.
I don't know how many Discordshe was in, but this kid would
say good morning to like, Idon't know how many people, his
phone is still active.
(08:35):
I still have his phone.
I don't even go into his discordbecause I don't even know how
many people he was.
I mean, and, and we watched someof, some of the bigger, we
watched, reversal, watched, ohGod reversal.
He watched, he watched FinnFinnegan at night.
oh God, we wa there's so many ofthem.
(08:56):
I, I even forget them.
But we watched a lot ofdifferent streamers and they all
knew Turbo.
all knew him.
He came in, he'd come in, he'dsay hello, he'd watch, he'd send
his bits and stuff like that.
And, John got two authentic,cups.
I don't know what they wouldand, and got them randomly.
(09:17):
He just ran into them and
David Hernandez (09:19):
Okay.
MamaTurbo (09:20):
They were shinies he said to me, he said, ma, I got
these.
And never got that stupid fishthat he used to go after and
like it, it didn't make, itdidn't make a big deal.
I said, John, you are not a bigstreamer.
You're a little fish in a bigpond.
I said, you have a lot of theseother streamers out there who
(09:42):
were extremely big, andbasically the only thing Turbo
wanted to do was he wanted tobecome partner so he could let
people know that if I can do it,anybody can do it.
David Hernandez (09:54):
Wow.
He took your words to heart.
You know, you raised him thatway.
MamaTurbo (09:57):
yeah, yeah, yeah.
He wanted people to know thatjust because he was disabled,
the mind is there.
See, that's the part thateverybody seems to forget.
You meet somebody that has abildisability, and I hate to put it
this way, I hate to say it thisway.
You think they're an idiot
David Hernandez (10:16):
Unfortunately, yes.
MamaTurbo (10:16):
they're not.
And they're not.
A lot of people do have wherethey're not highly intelligent,
but then there are those thatare highly intelligent and you
don't, A lot of, a lot of peopledon't give the disabled person a
chance show who they are.
take it for granted, oh, you'redisabled, you're an idiot.
(10:39):
the bottom line is, even thoughthey may not look like there,
um, how am I going to put thispolitely?
the brightest star in the sky.
David Hernandez (10:51):
Yes.
MamaTurbo (10:52):
person has their own thing that they are good with,
and that includes us whether youhave a disability or not.
David Hernandez (11:00):
Yes.
MamaTurbo (11:01):
everybody is smart.
Not everybody knows everything.
Okay?
there are those out there thatno, but people, they look at
somebody and they go, well, youdon't know.
People look at me because I'm noyoungster.
like, yeah, okay.
You don't know.
David Hernandez (11:18):
when it came to Turbo and you said he looked up
to the bigger streamers.
How important were they to hiswellbeing as well as just his
motivation from day to day?
MamaTurbo (11:28):
in the beginning he looked up to them, to see how
they did things you know, tryand figure out how they got
where they are.
But because of the limita, alittle bit of a limitation that
Turbo had in the beginning.
Not in the beginning, but in theend there was a time where he
was running himself ragged.
And I said to him, you can't dothe hours that these other
(11:49):
streamers are doing.
Physically.
You can't do it.
there was a time where Turbo wasstreaming too many hours in a
day.
and he, and when he streamed, hedidn't drink anything.
He didn't wanna interrupt hisstream, which for him was not
David Hernandez (12:02):
Oh.
MamaTurbo (12:03):
Right.
Okay.
David Hernandez (12:05):
So he would stream, like say for example,
eight to 12 hours in a row andhe wouldn't drink nothing.
MamaTurbo (12:09):
he wouldn't go that far there.
But there was a past, sometimeshe, he tried to go for like five
hours.
And then I said to him, so I, Irealize you were in a spot where
you wanted to go on, but lookwhat you did to yourself.
Now you can't stream for twodays because you're out of it.
You've got to find your niche onhow many hours.
I says, and let me tell yousomething, if people want to
(12:30):
watch you, they will.
he had, he, matter of fact, I'mstill friends.
He had a, streamer, we calledhim Santa.
He goes by another name rightnow.
And Santa told him, I.
If they want to watch you, theywill come and watch you, but you
need to do what you need to dofor you.
And he listened to him andthat's when he did whatever, you
(12:54):
know, he took days off it, youknow, when it, it got to the
point where he wasn't, you know,feeling up to snuff.
And I'd say to him, turbo, don'tfeel a hundred peRCent no, I'm
all right ma.
But I mean, he, he wouldn't eatin between streams.
He would, he barely drank inbetween.
I used to say to him, you gottadrink.
No, I can't.
(13:14):
because he, his jaw wasatrophied, so he had to do
things in certain manners incertain ways, and I guess he was
embarrassed with it.
So, you know, he put on a, beright back and he'd take a sip,
but it wasn't enough to get acomplete nourishment.
I.
That was kind of a little bit ofour fights, you know, that's
what we would, you know, arguewith Turbo.
You have to eat.
(13:35):
Yeah, I ma I gotta stream.
No, you got to eat.
No, I gotta stream.
David Hernandez (13:38):
so at what point did you try to start
helping them?
'cause I know you had like abackground role when it came to
Turbo, right?
MamaTurbo (13:44):
my role was setting him up, getting the games ready,
and depending on what he wasplaying was whether or not my
hands were needed to play thegame.
That's what it came down to.
there were a couple of games hewas able to play by himself.
there was one where you had acollect, you had a, you went
through with an area and youcollect Pokemons.
(14:04):
I forget what it was.
I'm, I'm bad at the Pokemongames.
but the one, game that He hadgotten me into, um, win Waker.
Zelda win Waker, and we wereplaying that.
And then when ARCeus came out,now that's Pokemon ARCeus.
Am I correct?
David Hernandez (14:20):
Yes.
You got it right?
Yeah.
MamaTurbo (14:22):
That Pokemon ARCeus reminded me of Legends of Zelda.
And I said to him, I can playthis.
He says, no you can't.
I said, yeah, I can.
And I'll never forget the nightI found I caught my first shiny.
I was like, that's a shiny.
David Hernandez (14:39):
Ooh, what was it?
MamaTurbo (14:41):
yeah, no, I don't, I don't remember what it was.
And he says, yeah, ma, that's ashiny.
So after this, after catchingthe first shiny, I says to him,
Could you please tell me whatwe're going after?
And out came the phone and Ityped it in and I said, okay,
now I know what I'm looking for,
David Hernandez (14:59):
Nice.
MamaTurbo (15:00):
clue.
I,
David Hernandez (15:01):
Right.
MamaTurbo (15:01):
I never played Pokemon.
They did, they, I have of DsPokemon games and three Ds
Pokemon games, and him and hisbrother played those.
But I never played Pokemon.
So, I don't know from Pokemon,but he got me hooked on Zelda.
And ARCeus was it very much likeZelda.
(15:23):
And he did play ARCeus in thebeginning, but then as he
started to lose his strength hecouldn't play it by himself
anymore, and he said, ma, wouldyou play it with me?
And I said, of course, I'll playit with you.
So my schedule revolved aroundmaking dinner and it's like,
time are you streaming?
all right.
Everybody's gotta eat by thistime because mom's gotta help
(15:43):
him play.
David Hernandez (15:44):
When it came to, you helping your son play
legends, Arceus and of courseyou finally got more interested
in playing it, what did youremember about playing that
game?
MamaTurbo (15:53):
Just going after Shinies.
That was it.
David Hernandez (15:56):
really shiny hunting.
MamaTurbo (15:59):
He was a shiny hunter.
He, he, he did
David Hernandez (16:01):
Okay.
MamaTurbo (16:02):
and, and, and, he went after, a, a monkey, don't
ask me the name of it, monkey.
I'd have to look it up.
But he bought a banana shirt.
He bought a banana tie.
just couldn't catch this stupidmonkey.
One night I said to him, I'lleat a banana.
Maybe you'll find it.
That didn't help.
I think he finally, he finallygot it.
(16:25):
he was going, he did everythinghe could to get this stupid
monkey, and, and to this day, Ireally don't know if he, if he
did get it or he didn't get it,there was, one looks like a, it
looked to me, well, to us itlooked like our, our dog, Theo,
it was black and white.
Tom knows he, matter of fact,he's got it on his stream and
that's turbo.
and, I'm something else that Tomuses as the little, the little
(16:49):
icons when he streams.
but yeah, a couple of them, henamed after our animals and the
two dogs that we had and stuff.
But he, he liked, he liked togo, he liked his Shiny Hunting.
And and the best was, is Bo bothTurbo and his brother.
They'd laugh at
David Hernandez (17:06):
Aw.
MamaTurbo (17:07):
because half the time I couldn't print.
No, they laugh at me becausehalf the time I couldn't
pronounce the stupid Pokemon.
And I'd look at it and I'mgoing, but that doesn't look
like the name.
It, it should be calledsomething else.
And he said, ma, that's the nameof the Pokemon.
I'm like, okay The one that,turbo named Theo, whatever it
(17:28):
was, that was just because henamed it Theo.
And then, his brother Jay named,a Pokemon that he liked for his
little girl, Harley.
And that was it.
David Hernandez (17:38):
they were named after, I guess, y'all's dogs, is
that correct?
MamaTurbo (17:41):
yeah, they were after they were named after both of
our dogs passed.
David Hernandez (17:45):
was it the, I guess, how important are pets
for you and your family?
I know that that played a hugerole in Turbo, if I'm not
mistaken.
MamaTurbo (17:51):
Well, Back in 2009 when Jay came home after he had
his medical situation, my niecewas breeding Chihuahuas, and Jay
had had some other things thatwent down and my niece was
breeding them.
And she says, why don't you getdogs for the kids?
(18:12):
And I said, no, I don't know.
And the boys would look and seethe dogs that she was, the
litters that she was getting andthis, that and the other thing.
And I kind of finally gave inbecause, but it had to be ones
that are small because I couldnot walk these dogs because I
had to take care at the time.
were, John did not have anyonehelping him, with his disability
(18:36):
except myself.
So Jay had nurses, but I stillhad to be here to make sure that
everything was done properly.
So there was always someonehome.
If I wasn't home, their dad washome.
But most of the time I was homeand everything.
When we didn't have nurses orhis brother Jay, I was the
nurse.
So the chihuahuas were perfect.
(18:57):
So my niece said, I'll give youa dog for Jay, I said, okay.
So it all came about.
Josh looked at the litter hechose this little brown and
white fluff ball, and he namedher Harley after Harley Quinn.
No doubt about it.
That's how he named her.
(19:18):
And she had a heart.
She had a brown heart on herwhite butt.
She had a heart on her tush andher name was Harley.
And it was true.
It's true.
that was how Harley, so nowTurbo looks at me and he says,
ma, what about me?
I said, what about you?
Well, can I have one too?
(19:38):
There were three to the litter.
wound up taking a brother andsister, which was Harley and
Theo.
And then they had their brother,who my sister-in-law named Mr.
Magoo, and he was your typicalTaco Bell dog.
I didn't take him.
I should have, I should have, Ishould have taken all three to
the litter.
And I didn't my husband hadsaid, you should have taken all
(20:00):
three to the litter.
You should have taken, youshould have taken, Mr.
Magoo also.
But I didn't.
I took Theo and Harley Theoturned out to be a service dog.
He was never trained.
as Turbo started be as strong ashe was, there was a time where
Theo was, would be in his roomwhere I am now.
(20:22):
he looked at Theo and he said,go get mom.
And here came Theo running intothe kitchen, which is not far.
And he stood there barking andbarking and barking.
And I'm like, what are youbarking at?
I said, does John need me?
and I got up and I came insideand sure enough, John needed me.
that's how close Turbo was withhis dog.
(20:43):
Theo constantly was up inTurbo's bed, laying in Turbo's
bed.
our Harley used, we used to tellHarley when she was younger, she
would be able to jump up on, weused to tell her, go wake up
Turbo.
She'd come running outta thekitchen, jumping up on his bed
and licking his face.
Okay, time to get up.
So that was the first dogs.
And then, when, theo passed awayand then I had to put my Harley
(21:05):
down.
And they said, can we get a dognow?
I said, no, because Holly wasalready blind.
had Cushing's disease where shecouldn't, she used to go from
her crate.
She was able to walk from thecrate, which was in, is, which
is in John's room to, out of thejohn's room, to the wee wee pit.
And then after that, there was aspot between the living room and
the dining room the apartment.
(21:25):
And that's where she would stay.
And we had to put wall to wallchucks because she could not
hold her urine.
And she was blind.
David Hernandez (22:19):
So we talked about how Turbo started
streaming you were, his handsbasically on games that he
couldn't play He made it to, Ibelieve, his third anniversary.
He didn't make it to his fourth.
Is that correct?
MamaTurbo (22:30):
Yes he did.
David Hernandez (22:32):
Was that difficult for you to kind of go
through the fact that, he didn'tmake it that far?
Do you ever think about it?
Sometimes I.
MamaTurbo (22:44):
Yes and no.
Yes and no.
Everything is still in his room.
His gaming system, hiscomputers, his game, his
headsets, his incentives that heused, his streaming, it's still
(23:08):
here.
It's, they're only, he's onlygonna be gone two years.
So, um, yeah, it's kind of hard,but it's something that
happened.
It's not something that, um,anybody could have changed.
It's what happened.
(23:33):
Do I miss them?
Yeah, I miss them both.
But it is what it is.
You know, thank, I have to say,thank God the streaming
community of turbos have allowedme to be part of their streams,
even if I'm just lurking.
And, um, to me that that'senough in itself.
(23:58):
That's kind of my sanitybecause, um, I, I made them
laugh last night when we wereplaying kart.
I said, they were saying, oh,it's late, it's one o'clock.
It's like, oh, it's late.
I said Late.
I said, I don't go to bed beforefour in the morning Well, Here's
the thing.
(24:18):
I'm on turbo time.
Turbo time was, I didn't go tobed until everybody else went to
bed.
And there were times that Turbodidn't go to bed till four in
the morning.
So
David Hernandez (24:32):
You find yourself trying to, I guess,
live how Turbo lived asstreaming to kind of preserve
his memory in a way.
MamaTurbo (24:39):
no, not really.
'cause I, I could, I have hisstreaming computer, I know how
to set, it up, but I don't knowhow to open up anything.
And I'm sure that if I wanted toand open up his computer and
open up his stream and just letpeople know that it was me, I
could, because I'm sure his modswould help me as
David Hernandez (25:01):
Mm-hmm.
MamaTurbo (25:01):
others out there in the community.
But it's not something that Ihave to do.
wasn't me, that was him.
And I'll leave that for him.
I will play.
Mario with Tom.
I will watch Tom, I will, cheerthem on him.
(25:23):
Savvy, Kung Fu Kenny.
The three of them have been, asavior for me because, at night
and I know it sounds crazy, butthe TV's on, I'm playing on the
computer and I have them in myear.
And then there are times I amplaying one of the video games,
whether it be, Disney DreamWorld, which is a game that
(25:44):
Turbo got me hooked on, and I'mplaying his, I have my own, but
I am playing Turbo's DisneyDream World.
and I played, Mario Luigi, theBrothership.
Which I have to finish.
I played Mario, Luigi's Mansiontwo that I have to finish.
And I have other games that Ibought, that I haven't even
(26:06):
opened up.
I have three other games that Ibought, primarily Mario games.
One is Mario Wonder, donkey Kongand Lego Horizons, because I
have played, every Lego gamethat's out has been out for the
Minecraft.
I'm not a Minecraft person.
So I, I tried it, downloaded thetrial and went, this is not for
(26:29):
me.
I know my limitations oh, I haveto finish what I have.
I have this little, little voicein my head that keeps saying,
ma, these before you open theothers.
I know you can do it.
So I have two that are openedand I just have to set my mind
to finishing them and then I cango on from there.
David Hernandez (26:51):
I know that you know the way Turbo's room is
still set up the same way.
Do you ever get tempted to kindof go through his Pokemon game
sometimes to see kind of wherehe left off?
MamaTurbo (26:59):
No, because I don't wanna mess anything up, not
knowing what's there.
He has, Pokemon Home and he'sgot it all, and Turbo was a big
collector of, of a lot ofthings.
Matter of fact, I sent Tom alist of Pokemon games that I
have, if there was anythingthere, anybody that was
interested in, and that was justwhat was on the Ds and the three
(27:22):
Ds.
You have to understand what Ihave of turbos between Turbo and
Jay.
This was all their stuff.
Am I getting the new switch?
Yes.
Only because it's backwardscompatible and Turbo would've
bought it.
And I gotta play the new Mariocard.
So yeah, no, I, I, I can't openhis games.
I don't know what I'm doing withPokemon, so it doesn't pay for
(27:44):
me to open something that Idon't know what I'm doing.
That's why, I haven't been ableto play it.
That was the game that Turbo andI played together.
And I just can't bring myself, Idon't know what I'm doing in it.
I played it, I enjoyed it.
But you know, when you hadsomebody helping you because
they knew it better than you,that was turbo.
with his help, was able to doit.
(28:06):
And we played it together.
It was, you know, it, we
David Hernandez (28:08):
Yeah.
So it sounds like a, a bondingmoment between mother and son
almost.
MamaTurbo (28:12):
Yeah.
It, it was, And I was, you know,I was proud when he found the
shinies that he was looking for,because that's what he did.
He was a shiny hunter.
David Hernandez (28:22):
how do you want people to remember the true
turbo?
What do you want people to say?
That's his legacy?
MamaTurbo (28:32):
That he was a good person and what I heard from
others is that verycompassionate towards others and
he was always there for others.
That's all I heard he passed andin the, and, and like I said, a
(29:00):
lot, you know, didn't realizeuntil after he passed how many
people knew him in thecommunity.
In the streaming community.
Tom said to me, you can'timagine the amount of people.
He says that, that people thatknew him.
I'm like, I don't know.
I, I, I don't know.
He would, like I said, he'd getup every morning and he'd do
David Hernandez (29:22):
Yeah, and I mean, just think about the
dedication to that.
How many of us could say wemessage every single person or
every single community we're in?
Good morning.
That's something so simple, butthat's dedication.
That's how much heart that thetrue turbo had.
MamaTurbo (29:40):
but I want you, do you know that there were people
that got
David Hernandez (29:44):
I'm sure.
MamaTurbo (29:45):
he
David Hernandez (29:46):
Sadly, I.
MamaTurbo (29:46):
morning, which I think was totally stupid.
You didn't have to answer him.
All he was saying was.
Have a good morning or whateverhe would, whatever message he
would put up.
What was so hard about that,that he actually, people
actually had had, messaged himand said to him, please don't
(30:06):
send me your good morningsanymore, which I thought was
disgusting.
That was my per, that's mypersonal opinion.
I think it's disgusting, notbecause it was my son, because
you that self-centered that youdon't want somebody to say good
morning to you?
David Hernandez (30:25):
I think unfortunately you'd be surprised
by how self-centered people canbe.
I think it even goes back tothat first message from Santa,
uh, that you mentioned.
People are only gonna watch.
They wanna watch you.
I.
People are only gonna appreciateyou if they appreciate you.
Don't go where you don't feelappreciated.
And I think that's veryimportant lesson that if I bug
(30:46):
you by saying, good morning, Ihope you have a nice day.
Kill him with kindness.
I think that's what turboexemplified in my opinion.
MamaTurbo (30:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
He was, he was a, He was a goodperson.
David Hernandez (30:58):
Absolutely.
MamaTurbo (30:58):
was.
He thought he, he wasconsiderate of others.
He was always there.
If somebody had a problem, he,he never hesitated to try and
help them if he could, or sendthem in the right direction.
He was a really smart person,you know, just'cause he had a
disability, it didn't meananything.
David Hernandez (31:17):
I mean, it shows how much you raised a good
son.
he was very adamant, verystrong-willed obviously,'cause
he became a streamer.
He could have.
And you know, people say theycouldn't, you know, they
wouldn't do it.
And he was very caring.
And I think it shows, I thinkhis legacy does live on, maybe
lives on in the memory of heartsand the way we feel about him.
(31:40):
I've never met the true turbo,I've never known him, but
because I heard him from otherpeople, his legacy now lives on
in me in a different way.
And I think that's the power ofsomebody who I.
People would probably, you know,in a regular real world, would
throw off or figure like, youknow, useless.
Yes,
MamaTurbo (31:57):
tell you, Palm just caught that monkey that Turbo
was trying to, and he named itthe true turbo, so that, and
there was a lot like, two ofTom's mods was mods for turbo,
triple and hyper.
Hyper was very much, a mod forJohn and Triple So was Triple I.
(32:19):
I remember when Triple firststarted doing editing for John,
and John was teaching himbecause John went to school for
it.
He was in TV broadcasting, so hewas helping Triple and from what
I've seen, triple does fabulouswork.
He's done three of Tom's videos,which I am in one of his videos.
When someone comes in and they,they, you know, they come in, he
(32:41):
says, you know, you gotta pickone, two, or three.
I'm in one of them they got meto say, they got me to say
something and I'm, I'm, I'm, I'min it.
And I'm like, okay, I don'tcare.
You know, listen, whatever willwork for you guys.
That's fine.
That's like after, turbo hadpassed, I had said, and they
were gonna do Mario Kart.
I, I said to Hyper, I says, isit okay if I play?
(33:05):
I said, because this is Tom'sstream.
They said, no, no, you have toplay Mario Kart.
You are a part of Mario Kart.
We are doing this in memory ofTurbo.
This is something that Turboalways did, either on a Fri on a
Friday night, and you have to bea part of Mario Kart.
'cause there was a time where,there was something said about,
(33:25):
it was only VIPs or something.
I didn't understand what it andI had messaged Hyper and I said
to him, is it okay if I play?
I says,'cause this is not mystream.
I, you know, this is not for me.
I'm here for you guys.
You were there for him.
For Turbo, the least I can dois, and you are giving me my
(33:46):
sanity because when it's a roughnight, you guys are there, And
they said, yeah, you gotta behere.
I'm like, okay, And now, like Isaid, now I'm Mario Car Knight.
They got me in Discord.
They got me in talking toeverybody.
And it's like, oh.
And it's like, okay.
but yeah, that's, you know,basically, you know, it's what
(34:06):
it is.
It's, it's keeping him, him, hismemory with us.
I'm Mama Turbo, and this is Turbo's Pokemon Story.
David Hernandez (00:42):
Welcome to as the Pickleball Turns, where we
interview people about theirexperience with Pokemon.
My name is David Hernandez.
I'm joined by a relative ofsomebody that was mentioned in
the episode of Dragon Tamer Tomand she's here to share her
experience, not only withPokemon, but also with her son
and what the franchise kind ofdid for her, both through
(01:03):
Pokemon and Streaming.
MamaTurbo, Welcome to As theBall Turns.
MamaTurbo (01:07):
Thank you.
David Hernandez (01:08):
we were talking just before this and you have
such a unique perspective ofyour son and his journey.
One thing I wanna start off withis I wanna start off with his
disability.
You give insight to what Turbo'sdisability was and how it kind
of affected his life.
Before we kind of dive into thePokemon side of things,
MamaTurbo (01:27):
Turbo had what was called Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
It's under the umbrella of theMuscular Dystrophy Association.
He was diagnosed at 15 monthsold, and it is a disease that
slowly you lose differentthings.
And in his case, he was neverable to walk.
He was able to use his hands andhe was able to use his arms.
(01:47):
he used a motorized wheelchairas he got older.
He graduated from college, sohe's a college student.
He was a college graduate.
And, did whatever he reallywanted to do.
I raised him to do whatever hefelt he could do.
Sometimes there was limitationsand we figured out how to get
around it.
David Hernandez (02:06):
it must be hard as a parent, to see your kid,
you know, have to go throughthat kind of disability.
You know, you wanna see your kidkind of become who they are.
But then you also, on one sideyou see the disability and the
potential.
Situations.
How did you kind of find thatbalance to where you empowered
turbo to go and do what he feltcalled to while also, I guess
keep in mind, in his disability,like Did you ever feel like you
(02:27):
had accidentally limited him bychance or something like that?
MamaTurbo (02:30):
No, I wouldn't allow it.
him and his brother who had thesame neuromuscular disease.
They were raised to do whateverthey felt they could do with
limitations.
I'll tell you a brief story.
When Turbo was young, he hadn'tgotten his wh any of his
wheelchairs yet, and he was inan umbrella stroller and I
forget where we were going.
(02:51):
And we got somewhere and therewas a flight of stairs.
And Turbo looked at me and hesays to me, ma, how are we
gonna, I said, no problem.
I lifted him up in his umbrellastroller, and we went up the
flight of stairs.
And that's the way Turbo's lifewas.
Whatever you want to accomplish,you can.
David Hernandez (03:08):
And I think that's so powerful because it's
so easy to either judge peopleby their disability or even for
people who live withdisabilities, to feel that
they're, I don't wanna sayhelpless, but that they're less
than.
And I feel like as regularpeople, or at least for me, you
sometimes focus too much onperfection.
That if you aren't a specificway and something's wrong, and I
think it's rewarding to see howyou, despite turbo's,
(03:32):
limitations from the outside,you never let that stop him.
And I applaud you for that.
That's, that's powerful.
I.
MamaTurbo (03:37):
Yeah, that's the way he was raised.
I would not allow him nor hisbrother in any shape make matter
or form you could do.
Just because you were in awheelchair and you had
limitations, didn't mean youcouldn't do something.
You were no different thananybody else.
David Hernandez (03:52):
Now let's let the script a little bit, your
role in this is that Turbowanted to be a streamer and you
kind of helped him.
MamaTurbo (03:59):
a minute.
Wait a minute.
Turbo originally wanted to gointo TV production Fortunately,
his disability kept him out ofbeing anywhere near television
production, because of thelimitations of the wheelchair,
he did have a couple ofinterviews to get jobs, but
because of the disability, hecouldn't get one.
that basically was his dream.
(04:20):
But became a streamer because ofCovid.
Covid put a halt on his lifebecause prior to that, turbo
was.
At Rock concerts, he was DJing,he was involved with an
organization out in New Jersey,that's no longer there, but it
was an Under My Skin For LifeFoundation is the name of the
foundation.
(04:41):
And what they did is they helpeda lot of people with different
things.
we raised money for autism.
We raised money for breastcancer.
Turbo was involved in thisorganization.
oh, to Turbo also ran, him andhis brother put together
something called Rock AgainstDystrophy.
And what that was, was, is hegot rock bands to play and
(05:02):
people would come and they wouldpay to see the bands.
And the money that was raisedwas donated to the Muscular
Dystrophy Association.
Turbo did have covid, thank Godit didn't take him.
that's when he decided, ma, Ihave to do something.
I don't know how long this isgoing to last.
I cannot sit here doing nothing.
(05:22):
I don't know how he found thestreaming community that I can't
tell you I don't remember.
All I remember is him saying tome, ma, I wanna stream.
I said, knock yourself out.
David Hernandez (05:34):
And so when he came to you and he told you that
I wanted to stream ma how'd thatconversation happen and what
were the next steps that eitheryou or him took?
MamaTurbo (05:42):
At that particular time, turbo was still very
mobile.
he could play a lot of gamesbecause he was able to, set the
controller for one-handedcontrols.
So he was able to play a lot ofdifferent games.
Of course, as not being able tomaneuver and go out because of
Covid.
That's when you start losingthings with his form of
(06:04):
disability.
It's the old story.
If you don't use it, you loseit.
It's the same as for us.
you stop doing certain thingsfor whatever reason you break a
leg or whatever you wind updoing, you, you're gonna lose
it.
And because he couldn't get outand start moving around like he
did before,'cause he went all,we went all over the place.
David Hernandez (06:26):
Mm-hmm.
MamaTurbo (06:26):
oh, you name the concert took Turbo.
If Turbo didn't go with me, hehad friends that went with him.
He would take Access-A-Ride herein the city and usually I would
pick him up in the city.
So Turbo had no limitationsuntil Covid hit.
Covid is what made him astreamer?
David Hernandez (06:43):
It sounds like it was a double-edged sword in a
way to where a, I don't wannasay motivated, it kind of was a
catalyst to lead him intostreaming and to lead him into
that, I guess, closeneighborhood of production.
The downside was, it also, itsounded like put a timer on him.
MamaTurbo (07:00):
He was, he was getting weaker as time went on.
but the icing on the cake isbasically when his brother
passed, I think he kind of gaveup.
David Hernandez (07:12):
Must have been very difficult for both you and
him to go through.
MamaTurbo (07:16):
Well, his brother passed here in the house.
So, and even though they weren'tclose, because his brother had,
medical conditions where they,they really, when they were
younger, used to be in the sameroom playing video games, but
his brother wound up with amedical situation where he wound
up with a trach and a feedingtube and he had to have nurses
(07:37):
and he couldn't come in hisbrother's room like he used to
and play video games with hisbrother.
So, but when his brother passed,he kind of gave up, I think.
David Hernandez (07:49):
What do you remember about, turbo and his
brother playing games?
Like what was that kind of aconnection relationship like?
MamaTurbo (07:54):
oh, they were wicked.
They, oh, they were wicked.
when the cube was out, theyplayed animal crossings.
We played animal crossings, thethree of us.
And when they got older and Johnwent into the streaming, his
brother, Jay would watch and Jayall his brother Jay also watched
Tom a lot.
(08:14):
But the streaming was what hewanted to do.
It kept his mind occupied, itgave him what to do.
It gave him purpose, gave himreason to get up every morning.
He got up every morning.
he had a good morning messagefor everybody.
I don't know how many Discordshe was in, but this kid would
say good morning to like, Idon't know how many people, his
phone is still active.
(08:35):
I still have his phone.
I don't even go into his discordbecause I don't even know how
many people he was.
I mean, and, and we watched someof, some of the bigger, we
watched, reversal, watched, ohGod reversal.
He watched, he watched FinnFinnegan at night.
oh God, we wa there's so many ofthem.
(08:56):
I, I even forget them.
But we watched a lot ofdifferent streamers and they all
knew Turbo.
all knew him.
He came in, he'd come in, he'dsay hello, he'd watch, he'd send
his bits and stuff like that.
And, John got two authentic,cups.
I don't know what they wouldand, and got them randomly.
(09:17):
He just ran into them and
David Hernandez (09:19):
Okay.
MamaTurbo (09:20):
They were shinies he said to me, he said, ma, I got
these.
And never got that stupid fishthat he used to go after and
like it, it didn't make, itdidn't make a big deal.
I said, John, you are not a bigstreamer.
You're a little fish in a bigpond.
I said, you have a lot of theseother streamers out there who
(09:42):
were extremely big, andbasically the only thing Turbo
wanted to do was he wanted tobecome partner so he could let
people know that if I can do it,anybody can do it.
David Hernandez (09:54):
Wow.
He took your words to heart.
You know, you raised him thatway.
MamaTurbo (09:57):
yeah, yeah, yeah.
He wanted people to know thatjust because he was disabled,
the mind is there.
See, that's the part thateverybody seems to forget.
You meet somebody that has abildisability, and I hate to put it
this way, I hate to say it thisway.
You think they're an idiot
David Hernandez (10:16):
Unfortunately, yes.
MamaTurbo (10:16):
they're not.
And they're not.
A lot of people do have wherethey're not highly intelligent,
but then there are those thatare highly intelligent and you
don't, A lot of, a lot of peopledon't give the disabled person a
chance show who they are.
take it for granted, oh, you'redisabled, you're an idiot.
(10:39):
the bottom line is, even thoughthey may not look like there,
um, how am I going to put thispolitely?
the brightest star in the sky.
David Hernandez (10:51):
Yes.
MamaTurbo (10:52):
person has their own thing that they are good with,
and that includes us whether youhave a disability or not.
David Hernandez (11:00):
Yes.
MamaTurbo (11:01):
everybody is smart.
Not everybody knows everything.
Okay?
there are those out there thatno, but people, they look at
somebody and they go, well, youdon't know.
People look at me because I'm noyoungster.
like, yeah, okay.
You don't know.
David Hernandez (11:18):
when it came to Turbo and you said he looked up
to the bigger streamers.
How important were they to hiswellbeing as well as just his
motivation from day to day?
MamaTurbo (11:28):
in the beginning he looked up to them, to see how
they did things you know, tryand figure out how they got
where they are.
But because of the limita, alittle bit of a limitation that
Turbo had in the beginning.
Not in the beginning, but in theend there was a time where he
was running himself ragged.
And I said to him, you can't dothe hours that these other
(11:49):
streamers are doing.
Physically.
You can't do it.
there was a time where Turbo wasstreaming too many hours in a
day.
and he, and when he streamed, hedidn't drink anything.
He didn't wanna interrupt hisstream, which for him was not
David Hernandez (12:02):
Oh.
MamaTurbo (12:03):
Right.
Okay.
David Hernandez (12:05):
So he would stream, like say for example,
eight to 12 hours in a row andhe wouldn't drink nothing.
MamaTurbo (12:09):
he wouldn't go that far there.
But there was a past, sometimeshe, he tried to go for like five
hours.
And then I said to him, so I, Irealize you were in a spot where
you wanted to go on, but lookwhat you did to yourself.
Now you can't stream for twodays because you're out of it.
You've got to find your niche onhow many hours.
I says, and let me tell yousomething, if people want to
(12:30):
watch you, they will.
he had, he, matter of fact, I'mstill friends.
He had a, streamer, we calledhim Santa.
He goes by another name rightnow.
And Santa told him, I.
If they want to watch you, theywill come and watch you, but you
need to do what you need to dofor you.
And he listened to him andthat's when he did whatever, you
(12:54):
know, he took days off it, youknow, when it, it got to the
point where he wasn't, you know,feeling up to snuff.
And I'd say to him, turbo, don'tfeel a hundred peRCent no, I'm
all right ma.
But I mean, he, he wouldn't eatin between streams.
He would, he barely drank inbetween.
I used to say to him, you gottadrink.
No, I can't.
(13:14):
because he, his jaw wasatrophied, so he had to do
things in certain manners incertain ways, and I guess he was
embarrassed with it.
So, you know, he put on a, beright back and he'd take a sip,
but it wasn't enough to get acomplete nourishment.
I.
That was kind of a little bit ofour fights, you know, that's
what we would, you know, arguewith Turbo.
You have to eat.
(13:35):
Yeah, I ma I gotta stream.
No, you got to eat.
No, I gotta stream.
David Hernandez (13:38):
so at what point did you try to start
helping them?
'cause I know you had like abackground role when it came to
Turbo, right?
MamaTurbo (13:44):
my role was setting him up, getting the games ready,
and depending on what he wasplaying was whether or not my
hands were needed to play thegame.
That's what it came down to.
there were a couple of games hewas able to play by himself.
there was one where you had acollect, you had a, you went
through with an area and youcollect Pokemons.
(14:04):
I forget what it was.
I'm, I'm bad at the Pokemongames.
but the one, game that He hadgotten me into, um, win Waker.
Zelda win Waker, and we wereplaying that.
And then when ARCeus came out,now that's Pokemon ARCeus.
Am I correct?
David Hernandez (14:20):
Yes.
You got it right?
Yeah.
MamaTurbo (14:22):
That Pokemon ARCeus reminded me of Legends of Zelda.
And I said to him, I can playthis.
He says, no you can't.
I said, yeah, I can.
And I'll never forget the nightI found I caught my first shiny.
I was like, that's a shiny.
David Hernandez (14:39):
Ooh, what was it?
MamaTurbo (14:41):
yeah, no, I don't, I don't remember what it was.
And he says, yeah, ma, that's ashiny.
So after this, after catchingthe first shiny, I says to him,
Could you please tell me whatwe're going after?
And out came the phone and Ityped it in and I said, okay,
now I know what I'm looking for,
David Hernandez (14:59):
Nice.
MamaTurbo (15:00):
clue.
I,
David Hernandez (15:01):
Right.
MamaTurbo (15:01):
I never played Pokemon.
They did, they, I have of DsPokemon games and three Ds
Pokemon games, and him and hisbrother played those.
But I never played Pokemon.
So, I don't know from Pokemon,but he got me hooked on Zelda.
And ARCeus was it very much likeZelda.
(15:23):
And he did play ARCeus in thebeginning, but then as he
started to lose his strength hecouldn't play it by himself
anymore, and he said, ma, wouldyou play it with me?
And I said, of course, I'll playit with you.
So my schedule revolved aroundmaking dinner and it's like,
time are you streaming?
all right.
Everybody's gotta eat by thistime because mom's gotta help
(15:43):
him play.
David Hernandez (15:44):
When it came to, you helping your son play
legends, Arceus and of courseyou finally got more interested
in playing it, what did youremember about playing that
game?
MamaTurbo (15:53):
Just going after Shinies.
That was it.
David Hernandez (15:56):
really shiny hunting.
MamaTurbo (15:59):
He was a shiny hunter.
He, he, he did
David Hernandez (16:01):
Okay.
MamaTurbo (16:02):
and, and, and, he went after, a, a monkey, don't
ask me the name of it, monkey.
I'd have to look it up.
But he bought a banana shirt.
He bought a banana tie.
just couldn't catch this stupidmonkey.
One night I said to him, I'lleat a banana.
Maybe you'll find it.
That didn't help.
I think he finally, he finallygot it.
(16:25):
he was going, he did everythinghe could to get this stupid
monkey, and, and to this day, Ireally don't know if he, if he
did get it or he didn't get it,there was, one looks like a, it
looked to me, well, to us itlooked like our, our dog, Theo,
it was black and white.
Tom knows he, matter of fact,he's got it on his stream and
that's turbo.
and, I'm something else that Tomuses as the little, the little
(16:49):
icons when he streams.
but yeah, a couple of them, henamed after our animals and the
two dogs that we had and stuff.
But he, he liked, he liked togo, he liked his Shiny Hunting.
And and the best was, is Bo bothTurbo and his brother.
They'd laugh at
David Hernandez (17:06):
Aw.
MamaTurbo (17:07):
because half the time I couldn't print.
No, they laugh at me becausehalf the time I couldn't
pronounce the stupid Pokemon.
And I'd look at it and I'mgoing, but that doesn't look
like the name.
It, it should be calledsomething else.
And he said, ma, that's the nameof the Pokemon.
I'm like, okay The one that,turbo named Theo, whatever it
(17:28):
was, that was just because henamed it Theo.
And then, his brother Jay named,a Pokemon that he liked for his
little girl, Harley.
And that was it.
David Hernandez (17:38):
they were named after, I guess, y'all's dogs, is
that correct?
MamaTurbo (17:41):
yeah, they were after they were named after both of
our dogs passed.
David Hernandez (17:45):
was it the, I guess, how important are pets
for you and your family?
I know that that played a hugerole in Turbo, if I'm not
mistaken.
MamaTurbo (17:51):
Well, Back in 2009 when Jay came home after he had
his medical situation, my niecewas breeding Chihuahuas, and Jay
had had some other things thatwent down and my niece was
breeding them.
And she says, why don't you getdogs for the kids?
(18:12):
And I said, no, I don't know.
And the boys would look and seethe dogs that she was, the
litters that she was getting andthis, that and the other thing.
And I kind of finally gave inbecause, but it had to be ones
that are small because I couldnot walk these dogs because I
had to take care at the time.
were, John did not have anyonehelping him, with his disability
(18:36):
except myself.
So Jay had nurses, but I stillhad to be here to make sure that
everything was done properly.
So there was always someonehome.
If I wasn't home, their dad washome.
But most of the time I was homeand everything.
When we didn't have nurses orhis brother Jay, I was the
nurse.
So the chihuahuas were perfect.
(18:57):
So my niece said, I'll give youa dog for Jay, I said, okay.
So it all came about.
Josh looked at the litter hechose this little brown and
white fluff ball, and he namedher Harley after Harley Quinn.
No doubt about it.
That's how he named her.
(19:18):
And she had a heart.
She had a brown heart on herwhite butt.
She had a heart on her tush andher name was Harley.
And it was true.
It's true.
that was how Harley, so nowTurbo looks at me and he says,
ma, what about me?
I said, what about you?
Well, can I have one too?
(19:38):
There were three to the litter.
wound up taking a brother andsister, which was Harley and
Theo.
And then they had their brother,who my sister-in-law named Mr.
Magoo, and he was your typicalTaco Bell dog.
I didn't take him.
I should have, I should have, Ishould have taken all three to
the litter.
And I didn't my husband hadsaid, you should have taken all
(20:00):
three to the litter.
You should have taken, youshould have taken, Mr.
Magoo also.
But I didn't.
I took Theo and Harley Theoturned out to be a service dog.
He was never trained.
as Turbo started be as strong ashe was, there was a time where
Theo was, would be in his roomwhere I am now.
(20:22):
he looked at Theo and he said,go get mom.
And here came Theo running intothe kitchen, which is not far.
And he stood there barking andbarking and barking.
And I'm like, what are youbarking at?
I said, does John need me?
and I got up and I came insideand sure enough, John needed me.
that's how close Turbo was withhis dog.
(20:43):
Theo constantly was up inTurbo's bed, laying in Turbo's
bed.
our Harley used, we used to tellHarley when she was younger, she
would be able to jump up on, weused to tell her, go wake up
Turbo.
She'd come running outta thekitchen, jumping up on his bed
and licking his face.
Okay, time to get up.
So that was the first dogs.
And then, when, theo passed awayand then I had to put my Harley
(21:05):
down.
And they said, can we get a dognow?
I said, no, because Holly wasalready blind.
had Cushing's disease where shecouldn't, she used to go from
her crate.
She was able to walk from thecrate, which was in, is, which
is in John's room to, out of thejohn's room, to the wee wee pit.
And then after that, there was aspot between the living room and
the dining room the apartment.
(21:25):
And that's where she would stay.
And we had to put wall to wallchucks because she could not
hold her urine.
And she was blind.
David Hernandez (22:19):
So we talked about how Turbo started
streaming you were, his handsbasically on games that he
couldn't play He made it to, Ibelieve, his third anniversary.
He didn't make it to his fourth.
Is that correct?
MamaTurbo (22:30):
Yes he did.
David Hernandez (22:32):
Was that difficult for you to kind of go
through the fact that, he didn'tmake it that far?
Do you ever think about it?
Sometimes I.
MamaTurbo (22:44):
Yes and no.
Yes and no.
Everything is still in his room.
His gaming system, hiscomputers, his game, his
headsets, his incentives that heused, his streaming, it's still
(23:08):
here.
It's, they're only, he's onlygonna be gone two years.
So, um, yeah, it's kind of hard,but it's something that
happened.
It's not something that, um,anybody could have changed.
It's what happened.
(23:33):
Do I miss them?
Yeah, I miss them both.
But it is what it is.
You know, thank, I have to say,thank God the streaming
community of turbos have allowedme to be part of their streams,
even if I'm just lurking.
And, um, to me that that'senough in itself.
(23:58):
That's kind of my sanitybecause, um, I, I made them
laugh last night when we wereplaying kart.
I said, they were saying, oh,it's late, it's one o'clock.
It's like, oh, it's late.
I said Late.
I said, I don't go to bed beforefour in the morning Well, Here's
the thing.
(24:18):
I'm on turbo time.
Turbo time was, I didn't go tobed until everybody else went to
bed.
And there were times that Turbodidn't go to bed till four in
the morning.
So
David Hernandez (24:32):
You find yourself trying to, I guess,
live how Turbo lived asstreaming to kind of preserve
his memory in a way.
MamaTurbo (24:39):
no, not really.
'cause I, I could, I have hisstreaming computer, I know how
to set, it up, but I don't knowhow to open up anything.
And I'm sure that if I wanted toand open up his computer and
open up his stream and just letpeople know that it was me, I
could, because I'm sure his modswould help me as
David Hernandez (25:01):
Mm-hmm.
MamaTurbo (25:01):
others out there in the community.
But it's not something that Ihave to do.
wasn't me, that was him.
And I'll leave that for him.
I will play.
Mario with Tom.
I will watch Tom, I will, cheerthem on him.
(25:23):
Savvy, Kung Fu Kenny.
The three of them have been, asavior for me because, at night
and I know it sounds crazy, butthe TV's on, I'm playing on the
computer and I have them in myear.
And then there are times I amplaying one of the video games,
whether it be, Disney DreamWorld, which is a game that
(25:44):
Turbo got me hooked on, and I'mplaying his, I have my own, but
I am playing Turbo's DisneyDream World.
and I played, Mario Luigi, theBrothership.
Which I have to finish.
I played Mario, Luigi's Mansiontwo that I have to finish.
And I have other games that Ibought, that I haven't even
(26:06):
opened up.
I have three other games that Ibought, primarily Mario games.
One is Mario Wonder, donkey Kongand Lego Horizons, because I
have played, every Lego gamethat's out has been out for the
Minecraft.
I'm not a Minecraft person.
So I, I tried it, downloaded thetrial and went, this is not for
(26:29):
me.
I know my limitations oh, I haveto finish what I have.
I have this little, little voicein my head that keeps saying,
ma, these before you open theothers.
I know you can do it.
So I have two that are openedand I just have to set my mind
to finishing them and then I cango on from there.
David Hernandez (26:51):
I know that you know the way Turbo's room is
still set up the same way.
Do you ever get tempted to kindof go through his Pokemon game
sometimes to see kind of wherehe left off?
MamaTurbo (26:59):
No, because I don't wanna mess anything up, not
knowing what's there.
He has, Pokemon Home and he'sgot it all, and Turbo was a big
collector of, of a lot ofthings.
Matter of fact, I sent Tom alist of Pokemon games that I
have, if there was anythingthere, anybody that was
interested in, and that was justwhat was on the Ds and the three
(27:22):
Ds.
You have to understand what Ihave of turbos between Turbo and
Jay.
This was all their stuff.
Am I getting the new switch?
Yes.
Only because it's backwardscompatible and Turbo would've
bought it.
And I gotta play the new Mariocard.
So yeah, no, I, I, I can't openhis games.
I don't know what I'm doing withPokemon, so it doesn't pay for
(27:44):
me to open something that Idon't know what I'm doing.
That's why, I haven't been ableto play it.
That was the game that Turbo andI played together.
And I just can't bring myself, Idon't know what I'm doing in it.
I played it, I enjoyed it.
But you know, when you hadsomebody helping you because
they knew it better than you,that was turbo.
with his help, was able to doit.
(28:06):
And we played it together.
It was, you know, it, we
David Hernandez (28:08):
Yeah.
So it sounds like a, a bondingmoment between mother and son
almost.
MamaTurbo (28:12):
Yeah.
It, it was, And I was, you know,I was proud when he found the
shinies that he was looking for,because that's what he did.
He was a shiny hunter.
David Hernandez (28:22):
how do you want people to remember the true
turbo?
What do you want people to say?
That's his legacy?
MamaTurbo (28:32):
That he was a good person and what I heard from
others is that verycompassionate towards others and
he was always there for others.
That's all I heard he passed andin the, and, and like I said, a
(29:00):
lot, you know, didn't realizeuntil after he passed how many
people knew him in thecommunity.
In the streaming community.
Tom said to me, you can'timagine the amount of people.
He says that, that people thatknew him.
I'm like, I don't know.
I, I, I don't know.
He would, like I said, he'd getup every morning and he'd do
David Hernandez (29:22):
Yeah, and I mean, just think about the
dedication to that.
How many of us could say wemessage every single person or
every single community we're in?
Good morning.
That's something so simple, butthat's dedication.
That's how much heart that thetrue turbo had.
MamaTurbo (29:40):
but I want you, do you know that there were people
that got
David Hernandez (29:44):
I'm sure.
MamaTurbo (29:45):
he
David Hernandez (29:46):
Sadly, I.
MamaTurbo (29:46):
morning, which I think was totally stupid.
You didn't have to answer him.
All he was saying was.
Have a good morning or whateverhe would, whatever message he
would put up.
What was so hard about that,that he actually, people
actually had had, messaged himand said to him, please don't
(30:06):
send me your good morningsanymore, which I thought was
disgusting.
That was my per, that's mypersonal opinion.
I think it's disgusting, notbecause it was my son, because
you that self-centered that youdon't want somebody to say good
morning to you?
David Hernandez (30:25):
I think unfortunately you'd be surprised
by how self-centered people canbe.
I think it even goes back tothat first message from Santa,
uh, that you mentioned.
People are only gonna watch.
They wanna watch you.
I.
People are only gonna appreciateyou if they appreciate you.
Don't go where you don't feelappreciated.
And I think that's veryimportant lesson that if I bug
(30:46):
you by saying, good morning, Ihope you have a nice day.
Kill him with kindness.
I think that's what turboexemplified in my opinion.
MamaTurbo (30:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
He was, he was a, He was a goodperson.
David Hernandez (30:58):
Absolutely.
MamaTurbo (30:58):
was.
He thought he, he wasconsiderate of others.
He was always there.
If somebody had a problem, he,he never hesitated to try and
help them if he could, or sendthem in the right direction.
He was a really smart person,you know, just'cause he had a
disability, it didn't meananything.
David Hernandez (31:17):
I mean, it shows how much you raised a good
son.
he was very adamant, verystrong-willed obviously,'cause
he became a streamer.
He could have.
And you know, people say theycouldn't, you know, they
wouldn't do it.
And he was very caring.
And I think it shows, I thinkhis legacy does live on, maybe
lives on in the memory of heartsand the way we feel about him.
(31:40):
I've never met the true turbo,I've never known him, but
because I heard him from otherpeople, his legacy now lives on
in me in a different way.
And I think that's the power ofsomebody who I.
People would probably, you know,in a regular real world, would
throw off or figure like, youknow, useless.
Yes,
MamaTurbo (31:57):
tell you, Palm just caught that monkey that Turbo
was trying to, and he named itthe true turbo, so that, and
there was a lot like, two ofTom's mods was mods for turbo,
triple and hyper.
Hyper was very much, a mod forJohn and Triple So was Triple I.
(32:19):
I remember when Triple firststarted doing editing for John,
and John was teaching himbecause John went to school for
it.
He was in TV broadcasting, so hewas helping Triple and from what
I've seen, triple does fabulouswork.
He's done three of Tom's videos,which I am in one of his videos.
When someone comes in and they,they, you know, they come in, he
(32:41):
says, you know, you gotta pickone, two, or three.
I'm in one of them they got meto say, they got me to say
something and I'm, I'm, I'm, I'min it.
And I'm like, okay, I don'tcare.
You know, listen, whatever willwork for you guys.
That's fine.
That's like after, turbo hadpassed, I had said, and they
were gonna do Mario Kart.
I, I said to Hyper, I says, isit okay if I play?
(33:05):
I said, because this is Tom'sstream.
They said, no, no, you have toplay Mario Kart.
You are a part of Mario Kart.
We are doing this in memory ofTurbo.
This is something that Turboalways did, either on a Fri on a
Friday night, and you have to bea part of Mario Kart.
'cause there was a time where,there was something said about,
(33:25):
it was only VIPs or something.
I didn't understand what it andI had messaged Hyper and I said
to him, is it okay if I play?
I says,'cause this is not mystream.
I, you know, this is not for me.
I'm here for you guys.
You were there for him.
For Turbo, the least I can dois, and you are giving me my
(33:46):
sanity because when it's a roughnight, you guys are there, And
they said, yeah, you gotta behere.
I'm like, okay, And now, like Isaid, now I'm Mario Car Knight.
They got me in Discord.
They got me in talking toeverybody.
And it's like, oh.
And it's like, okay.
but yeah, that's, you know,basically, you know, it's what
(34:06):
it is.
It's, it's keeping him, him, hismemory with us.
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