Fighting game players tend to love making excuses, and for good reason: unlike team-based games, there isn’t anywhere to deflect blame when you inevitably take an L (besides the other person playing a “cheap” character, or you not getting enough sleep, or the sun being in your eyes).
However, Florida-based FGC member “Legi0n” had a very real reason not to be playing at her best: just five days earlier, she gave birth to her daughter Cereza, who she was quite literally cradling in her arms while competing in a local Mortal Kombat XL tournament. Despite this massive hurdle, she cleared her four-person bracket to take first place at Juicy Game Night in Orlando, Florida, winning $28 and a trip to Dreamhack Atlanta in late October.
As reported by Virginia Glaze at Dexerto, Legi0n is a 3D artist who gave birth to her daughter Cereza on September 22 via C-section. The pregnancy was a difficult one, as she developed a medical condition called a “uterine window” and suffered severe pain before the birth, ultimately leading to the decision to deliver the baby early. However, despite having just recovered from this severe surgical procedure, Legi0n decided “last-minute” to attend the tournament to see friends. She called out the importance of supporting local, community-run tournaments, noting that this is where she met her husband.
However, despite her victory, she was also careful to avoid downplaying the risks of pregnancy. “I want to be very vocal about how serious pregnancy and childbirth as a whole is,” she wrote on X. “You can literally die, and I almost did. Twice.” Legi0n wrote on X that she had previously nearly died from complications during the birth of her first daughter, Alcina, who tragically passed away 11 days after birth due to a tumor from Kasabach Merritt Syndrome. In a comment to Dexerto, she drew attention to NORD (the National Organization for Rare Diseases), an advocacy group aimed at helping those with uncommon medical conditions like the one her daughter suffered from.
