Cybersport.ru together with the Konstantin Khabensky Charitable Foundation continues a series of stories about children who have experienced cancer and won. Our new hero is Dima Klevkov. He is a vivid example of the fact that a terrible diagnosis in a medical record is an obstacle, but not a sentence. Dima was able to fill his life with his favorite hobbies, video games, Fortnite competitions and design activities, so that now there simply wasn’t any room for discussion about diseases.
According to opinion polls, a third of Russians are convinced that cancer is incurable and always leads to death. This stereotype is dangerous, because it often leads to a late diagnosis of cancer. We want to change that. The Konstantin Khabensky Charitable Foundation, which helps children with cancer and other serious brain diseases, has launched a social project. Its purpose is to clearly demonstrate that cancer is not a sentence, # will be cured. As part of a social campaign, of which the project with Cybersport.ru became a part, hundreds of people talk about how they defeated oncology. You can find out their stories on the site raklechitsa.ru.
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Dima Klevkov is almost 16 years old, at 11 he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma – bone cancer. Because of this, he spent almost a year and a half in the hospital. Dima asked not to touch on the topic of the disease. We respected this request, so we built our conversation precisely around his hobbies and interests.
“We are already training for the next season”
Dima’s illness was hardly mentioned by himself, only occasionally, describing some events, he said that this was before the hospital or after it, but he enthusiastically talked about Fortnite, which he has been playing for two years. He moved to it from PUBG – he says the “royal battle” from Epic Games is much more diverse and interesting. Now Dima seriously intends to break into e-sports. So far, however, the subsiding FPS is failing due to a weak computer, but he wants to solve this problem soon.
“If the computer were a little more powerful, I would play much better. I play almost every tournament. There used to be a supermanage, now there’s no such thing, I feel much more confident, I can put an opponent out easily. ”
Recently, Dima assembled a team of three people, and the guys started joint training. They have everything in an adult way: warm-ups, practices with other teams, studying record matches and no tilt. As Dima says, he’s not used to “burning” on teammates, they calmly discuss each mistake after the match. This is a fairly adult approach, which is not always characteristic of schoolchildren. Dima’s father Andrei explained that after the illness, his son’s attitude to life became somewhat different.
“After the illness, he became more conscious, began to relate to all things in a more adult way,” – Papa Andrey.
On the day, Dima devotes Fortnite 5-6 hours. When he asked my parents if he was against, he replied cheerfully: “Yes, they often say that I play a little less and go out more often.” Dima admits that he tried to devote his father to the subtleties of Fortnite, but he still did not understand anything. However, this does not prevent the whole family from supporting Dima when he performs at tournaments.
“I tried to teach my little brother how to play Fortnite. But then he once said that he was killed by some cheater, although I had never encountered anything like it in two years, and now he plays CS: GO [смеется]”.
“The Fortnite World Cup is cooler than The International”
Since Dima tries himself in e-sports, he also follows the Fortnite professional scene. According to him, he tries not to miss a single tournament. Even today, Dima can be safely planted in a Russian-language analytics studio. To my profane question: “Why do you think ours didn’t go to the Fortnite World Championship?” – He gave a rather thorough analysis of common tactics and even pointed to specific key episodes:
“Letw1k3 didn’t play in the solo tournament. When KING killed him through the yellow ramp, it became noticeable that letw1k3 tiltanu after that, and 7ssk7 and Jamside acted on the same strategy several cards in a row, because of which they were killed almost immediately after landing. ”
Dima follows many Fortnite professional players and streamers, but most of all he likes the Gambit team. He admits that he would be happy to chat live with the players of this club, and at the same time ask them how they picked up teammates and where their nicknames came from. Dima used to follow CS: GO and even sympathize with NAVI and, of course, s1mple. But now he is fully focused on Fortnite.
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For the sake of our interview, Dima broke away from training at Fortnite.
At the same time, Dima admits that the “royal battle” from Epic Games still has a lot to develop in terms of e-sports. According to him, it is difficult for a viewer unfamiliar with the game to adapt to the broadcast due to the large number of players and the constantly switching camera. But at the same time, Dima still believes that the 2019 Fortnite World Championship is one of the best e-sports events. Even cooler than The international in Dota 2.
“I follow the news about The International, I know about record prize pools, but still, you know, the Fortnite World Cup was much more ambitious and epic: a whole stadium, a lot of content and entertainment. It was cool!”
Unlike many famous streamers who criticize every action of developers, Dima has a positive attitude to all changes in the game and events. Fortnite helped him attend his first music concert when a Travis Scott show took place in the game: “It was very impressive. With each track, we all moved to a new location. It looked epic and bewitching. ”
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Throughout the conversation, Dima surprised me with his inexhaustible positiveness and goodwill.
With Dima we also discussed the latest crossovers in Fortnite. He had a good entrepreneurial grasp, he almost immediately drew up several options for collaborations that Epic Games could organize: “It seems to me that collages with clothing brands are the most interesting: so that things from the conditional Gucci appear in the game itself, and in reality release more branded merchandise with game symbols, as, for example, it was already with llamas. I think it will be very popular. ” He also came up with some interesting ideas for the Fortnite crossover with the anime “My Heroic Academy”. He has already prepared the concept of a separate regime in which the characters would have different superpowers.
I admit honestly that in an hour of talking with Dima I learned about Fortnite more than in the last few years, although I also watched major championships. He talks so enthusiastically that he infects with his love of the game. After this interview, I really reinstalled Fortnite for myself.
“I started working in Adobe Illustrator at age 11”
Dima’s computer appeared shortly before his illness, somewhere between 2015 and 2016. He was then 11 years old, and he immediately began to master not only video games, but also Photoshop. With the help of guides, he then independently learned to work in Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.
“I then developed my channel on YouTube. I wanted everything to look beautiful, so I took up its design myself. I watched other bloggers and streamers, I wanted to match them or do even better. Then he also helped a friend make a logo. ”
Now Dima is also thinking about his channel. He admits that he would very much like to stream how he performs at tournaments. But to implement this idea also does not allow a weak PC. To my question, if he would like to be like Ninja, Dima seriously answers that he is not particularly attracted to such entertaining content – it is much more interesting to follow the professionals who perform at a high level. Dima considers Ninja himself a “casual player” who is interesting in terms of fan, but can hardly teach the viewer in terms of e-sports.
Parents support Dima’s hobbies. His dad even said that he himself was pushing his son to develop in this direction – not only to play, but also to create his own content:
“I tell him, if you are interested in this topic, have studied it well and know everything, then start creating something yourself – record your video reviews, start streams so that you are also watched and you can become a mentor or coach for others,” – dad Andrei.
This year, Dima graduated from the ninth grade, it was not possible to mark this event due to quarantine. He laughed at how they had their online graduation at Zoom. He already had experience of remote interaction with the school. Due to illness, Dima missed a whole year of study – he studied at the hospital, and then still made up for lost time with tutors. And he coped with this task, now Dima is good. Returning to school was exciting, but he says friends helped him. Dima has not thought about where to go after school, but plans to continue to develop his passion for design.
In May 2018, Dima stood on a hip prosthesis, and six months later he won first place in the Moscow Championship in Cybatletics in the discipline “Hip prostheses”.
And even before the illness, Dima was engaged in dancing and went to the ballet school-studio of Alla Dukhovaya Todes. Not without pride, he said that once they took second place in the competition, although by the rules they were supposed to be champions.
“When we returned home after the competition, we learned that the guys who became the first took their dance from the Internet, and according to the rules, each team had to come up with it. So, in essence, we were supposed to be the first [смеется]”.
If you don’t know that Dima fought oncology for a year and a half, then it’s impossible to guess about this from a conversation. He is a fun, talkative, purposeful, and intelligent guy who loves anime, Dead Souls, and Fortnite. He spoke with interest about training and plans for the e-sports future. I hope that in a few years Cybersport.ru will again interview Dima and it will be completely about his future victories in tournaments – and he will not say a word about his illness or hospital.
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Konstantin Khabensky Foundation
Dima participated in recreational rehabilitation activities organized by the Konstantin Khabensky Charitable Foundation. Since 2008, the Foundation has been doing everything possible to ensure that children and adolescents with brain tumors receive all the necessary help on time and soon return to a full life. The fund pays for diagnostics and treatment, works with parents, improves the skills of doctors, helps equip specialized departments of Russian medical institutions, and organizes rehabilitation programs for wards and their family members. Everyone can help children – you can donate any amount via SMS to number 7535 or through online translation.
