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Why the death of a YouTuber helped raise money for a rare cancer

guest | 2024-07-01 19:41:54 | 閲覧数: 5

When Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade died two years ago, it broke the hearts of fans all over the world.

His real name was Alex, and he was only 23 years old.

Just a year before, he was told he had sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that affects bones and soft tissue.

He has left behind a lot of money for more study into the condition, but his millions of fans and other famous YouTubers have taken up his cause.

Sarcoma UK, a charity, tells BBC Newsbeat that the support of gamers has "revolutionized" its work.

Sarcomas are one of the less common types of cancer. The charity says that just over 5,000 people get them every year.

About 400 of them are young people, like Tom from south-west London, who was told two years ago he has osteosarcoma.

The 21-year-old is also a gamer and says he had never heard of a popular person with sarcoma before Technoblade told everyone about it.

"It's good to know he got people talking about it," he says.

When Technoblade told everyone in August 2021 that he had cancer, he said that he had thought a pain in his arm was caused by the stress of playing video games over and over again.

But when his arm got bigger, he went to the hospital, where they told him he had cancer.

It reminds me of Tom's own experience, when he thought he had hurt his leg at first.

"I didn't have a massive lump, didn't have any more symptoms, it was just hard to walk on," he points out.

Tom got a treatment that isn't very old. It was made possible by recent advances in cancer science.

But he says it was hard to tell the difference between his sarcoma and a sports injury. It wasn't until he could see a specialist that the real reason was found.

He says, "It's a hard disease."

A lot of big streamers have been doing what Technoblade did, like TommyInnit, who has almost 15 million fans and is another huge Minecraft YouTuber.

"Technoblade was an absolute legend in the Minecraft community and someone I really looked up to immensely," he adds.

I remember how sad it was when he told us all that he had cancer.

"Losing him has been really terrible, but it has also ignited a fierce determination within me to raise awareness and support the fight against sarcoma."

Tommy wants to raise money for Sarcoma UK at the upcoming Jingle Jam fundraiser. This is a big event for charity where streamers and their fans give through live feeds that look like telethons.

Richard Davidson, the boss of Sarcoma UK, says that the attention from gamers has made them much more effective.

"Technoblade's story really spoke to the impact that content creators and streaming can have in raising awareness," he adds.

Richard thinks that the YouTuber's work has inspired people to raise about £1 million, which is a huge amount of money for a small charity like Sarcoma UK.

"Getting the gaming community on board has really revolutionised the work we can do and the research we can invest in," he adds.

Getting the word out to a group of people he calls "passionate, engaged, and young" has also been important, he says.

That's because finding sarcomas early is very important for healing them.

"What's important is an early identification. "The outcome is much more likely to be good," says Richard.

"People should watch out for lumps and bumps, bone pain, and changes in bone pain."

"And any kind of changes like that, just go to your GP, get it checked out and put your mind at rest."

But gamers aren't the only ones spreading the word.

Eleni, 20, from Portsmouth had planned to join the Navy before she was told she had cancer. She now helps speak up for young people with cancer.

She says that, like Tom, she thought her main tumor in her shoulder was an accident more than once before she found out she had cancer.

"It was such a shock when I heard the news." "That's why I've been working to raise awareness ever since," she tells Newsbeat.

She is glad that gamers have helped bring attention to the sickness, which has an added benefit besides raising money.

For Eleni, talking to other young people like her about this "horrible thing to have in common" has helped her make friends for life.

"It's something really special and really important," she adds.

Tom is now in remission after six rounds of chemotherapy. He works to bring attention to the disease and raise money for more study.

Like Eleni, he says that knowing that other people are going through the same thing has helped his mental health.

"It's really comforting to talk to other people who have gone through treatment," he adds.

"I feel a lot better about it after sessions when I talk to other people about it."

If you're having a hard time, I would tell you to talk to other patients. It helped me a lot. It has really."

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