Laid-off Epic Games worker with cancer who lost life insurance gets CEO’s attention
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Jenni Griffin says husband Mike Prinke lost income and employer life insurance.
- A social media post about Prinke’s terminal brain cancer drew Tim Sweeney’s reply.
- Guaranteed-issue life plans often require age ~50+, limiting options for younger patients.
Since Epic Games announced mass layoffs last week, one social media post in particular has gotten the attention of many online — including the company’s CEO.
In a Facebook message Saturday, a Sanford woman named Jenni Griffin shared that her husband, Mike Prinke, has terminal brain cancer. At 38, Prinke was among roughly 1,000 Epic employees, or 20% of staff, to lose their jobs in a major cost-cutting move the North Carolina studio made on March 24. Epic specifically eliminated 211 positions at its headquarters in Cary, about 35 miles northeast of Sanford.
Without Prinke’s job, Griffin wrote that their family will not only lose his income but also his life insurance. And with her husband’s preexisting condition, she doubted obtaining new life insurance would be possible.
“So now, as I face the reality of losing my husband … I’m also facing the reality of what type of funeral/burial I can afford,” she wrote. “How I will keep a roof over our heads. How I will protect our son and the life we built together. What will happen to our dogs.”
Workers typically lose employer-provided life insurance when their employment ends. Guaranteed issue life insurance is available without medical exams, yet this higher-cost, lower-coverage option generally has age requirements starting around 50.
“Mike is not just a number,” Griffin wrote. “He is a father. A husband. A person deeply loved. I’m sharing this in the hope that it reaches the right people.”
Her post, which included an image scan of Prinke’s brain, quickly spread on Facebook and X. Later Saturday, an X user reshared her message while posing a critical question to Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. The next day, Sweeney replied.
“Epic is in contact with the family and will solve the insurance for them,” he wrote. “There is high confidentiality around medical information and it was not a factor in this layoff decision. Sorry to everyone for not recognizing this terribly painful situation and handling it in advance.”
Sweeney is a billionaire considered by Forbes to be North Carolina’s third-wealthiest person. His North Carolina studio is famous for developing the games Fortnite, Gears of War and the visualization tool Unreal Engine. Sweeney is a frequent poster on X, and his reply to Prinke’s insurance dilemma has been viewed more than 5 million times.
The News & Observer was unable to reach Prinke and Griffin on Monday through messages on social media.
On Sunday, Griffin updated her original Facebook message, writing that she and Prinke “ARE IN TALKS NOW WITH THE APPROPRIATE PEOPLE!”
“WILL UPDATE SOON,” she wrote. “LIKELY BY TUESDAY. THANK YOU.” Griffin ended her update with a red heart emoji.
This story was originally published March 31, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Laid-off Epic Games worker with cancer who lost life insurance gets CEO’s attention."
