TotalBiscuit Cancer Update: Gaming Commentator John Bain Said Cancer Is Back, Prognosis Looks Grim
TotalBiscuit, the popular YouTube gaming commentator whose real name is John Bain, posted on Thursday a devastating update about his battle with cancer.
The British video game expert had announced last year that he had been diagnosed with “full blown cancer,” noting that his outlook was not good. Bain took a break from making videos during his treatment, and later in the year had posted an update that seemed positive, but now it appears his condition has taken a difficult turn.
On Thursday, Bain posted a sobering update of his cancer battle, saying that the treatment failed to get rid of all the cancer and that his prognosis now looks grim.
In a message posted through Twitter, he wrote that the CT showed that the cancer in his bowel is gone, but that spots remain on his liver. Doctors said those spots are not operable and that there is no cure.
He then outlined the outlook for the form of cancer, which does not look good.
“Average life expectancy is 2-3 years, though there are outliers that live much longer. I’ll be back on chemo in a few weeks, with the goal of pushing it back and keeping it there for as long as possible. I fully intend to be the outlier, the average is this way because most people that get this are old and not strong anymore. Who knows what they’ll come up with in the next decade? I intend to beat it for as long as possible. Gonna need some time to process all of this. I don’t really feel anything right now. Thanks.”
Bain did not specify what kind of cancer he had or exactly how long the treatment would last.
The 30-year-old Bain, who is also known by The Cynical Brit and TotalHalibut, is a professional caster for games including StarCraft II and PlanetSide 2. He has more than 1 million YouTube subscribers, and even his own Reddit page dedicated to him that has close to 55,000 subscribers.
He has been steadily increasing his stature, and building followers across social media and YouTube while attracting more than 100,000 views for nearly all of his videos posted.
TotalBiscuit has been popular in the industry as well, earning runner-up in the Golden Joystick 2012 awards for Greatest YouTube Gamer category. Bain, in turn, took a larger stake in the industry, announcing in 2012 that he would sponsor team-dignitas player BlinG.
“The StarCraft community has given a lot to me and in turn I’ve had the opportunity to give back with SHOUTcraft Invitational,” he said at the time. “Now it is time to take it one step further and directly support a UK talent that I believe has the potential to be one of the best foreigners in the world.”
TotalBiscuit appeared to be making progress in his fight with cancer. In January of this year, he posted a message on Twitter that his latest scan had come back clear.
CLEAR CLEAR CLEAR, THE SCAN CAME BACK CLEAR
— John Bain (@Totalbiscuit) January 23, 2015
After the latest update, many fans took to Twitter and his subreddit to share their wishes and encouragement in his fight with cancer. And John Bain himself appeared ready for the fight ahead of him, posting a message vowing to win his battle.
“F*** this stupid disease. The average is going up after I’m done with it,” he wrote on Twitter.
It is not yet clear what the latest fight with cancer will mean for TotalBiscuit’s YouTube channel. John Bain has not yet announced whether he would be taking time away to devote to his cancer treatment, as he did with the last bout.
[Image via YouTube]
