Operation Inventor Broke: Elderly Board Game Inventor Can’t Afford Own Operation [Video]

Operation inventor John Spinello is so broke that he can’t afford to pay for his own surgery. The 77-year-old inventor of the popular board game Operation needs oral surgery, but he doesn’t have the $25,000 necessary to pay for the procedure. As reported by the Daily Mail, Spinello doesn’t have health insurance.

Fortunately, a whole lot of good Samaritans have popped up online, raising more than the Operation inventor needs to pay for his own surgical procedure. Thanks to the online fundraising campaign, Spinello will have the dough and even some extra cash to spare.

As of the morning of October 30, 2014, $25,480 had been pledged to help the Operation inventor on the website CrowdRise, whose motto is “If you don’t give back, no one will like you.” The campaign was organized by a man named Tim Walsh, who posted a message of gratitude upon hitting, and exceeding, the goal of $25K.

“What can we say? We woke up this morning to $25,200! We can’t thank you all enough. We’re working on a special video thank you coming soon!”

John Spinello invented Operation five decades ago, selling the rights to the game to toy designer Marvin Glass for the paltry sum of $500. It was probably a good amount of money to Spinello at the time. He was a student at the University of Illinois when he created, and subsequently sold, the board game to Glass. Glass sold the rights to Milton Bradley for an undisclosed sum of money.

Marvin Glass reportedly promised the Operation inventor a job after his graduation from the University of Illinois, but he never followed through on that promise.

According to Spinello’s pal Tim Walsh, the Operation inventor’s beloved creation has generated an estimated $40 million, or more, in sales since it first hit store shelves in 1965, reported MSN. Today, the lucrative board game belongs to Rhode Island-based toy company Hasbro, which has expressed an interest in purchasing John Spinello’s prototype for the game.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, an online fundraising campaign to pay for a woman’s abortion was ended by GoFundMe. Although 106 donated funds to an abortion campaign known as “Stop Bailey From Breeding,” the site explained that the woman’s campaign had been ended and her account terminated as inappropriate. In a letter from GoFundMe’s customer service team, the site said it would “rather not be associated with” the “subject matter” of the woman’s campaign.

For those who wish to contribute, funds are still being accepted for Operation inventor John Spinello.

[Image via NBC News]