At 14, Maxim Harris has spent years fighting cancer. But somewhere between rounds of treatment and missed days of school, the teenager from Valley Cottage built something of his own. While playing video games one day, he slammed his desk in frustration and it hurt. There had to be a better way to let it out, he remembers thinking.
The idea took shape the next day at school, where a class project called for a business plan. Maxim already had one in mind and decided to take it further. The result is RagePad, a desktop punching pad designed for gamers who lose their temper when the competition turns intense.
For Maxim, video games are more than a pastime. They are a way to stay connected with friends during the stretches when he is too sick to leave the house. He built a prototype of his punching pad and launched a website to sell it.
The product caught on. Maxim is now selling hundreds of RagePads online, turning a moment of frustration into a small business he runs from home while he continues his treatment.
His fight with cancer has been long. Maxim has been through 36 rounds of chemotherapy and four different types of treatment. For his family, the venture has been a welcome change of subject. Having a topic to talk about other than the next trip to St. Jude, a family member said, is a nice thing to have.
The connections continue online. On a typical Monday night, Maxim's best friend Chase, who is also one of his loyal customers, logs in to play. The two, who once spent time together on the baseball field, now meet up in games such as Fortnite.
Maxim donates 20 percent of every RagePad sale to St. Jude Children's Hospital, the same place treating him, and the pad goes with him when he visits. Expressing your feelings is important, he said, because it helps deal with things.