Gamer and YouTuber Tyler Blevins – otherwise known as Ninja – has revealed he has been diagnosed with skin cancer.
After spotting a mole on his foot, a doctor diagnosed the 32-year-old with melanoma.
Speaking on X, the YouTube star said: “Alright I’m still in a bit of shock but want to keep you all updated. A few weeks ago I went in to a dermatologist for an annual skin/mole check that Jess proactively scheduled for me.
“There was a mole on the bottom of my foot that they wanted to remove just to be careful. It came back as melanoma, but they are optimistic that we caught it in the early stages.
“I had another dark spot appear near it, so today they biopsied that and removed a larger area around the melanoma with the hopes that under the microscope they will see clear non-melanoma edges and we will know we got it.”
Ninja, who is the most followed person on the streaming channel, Twitch, with nearly 19 million followers, said doctors are “optimistic” after catching the condition early.
Who is Ninja?
Ninja is one of the world’s best-known gamers, gaining acclaim on streaming platform Twitch.
He controversially left the platform in 2020, joining Microsoft’s rival platform Mixer – which was shut down in June that year.
The 32-year-old is best known for live streaming Fortnite – an online game in which 100 players fight in a Battle Royale format to be the last person standing.
Such is his popularity on Fortnite, that players can pay to make their characters look like Ninja.
His rise to prominence had led to him featuring on mainstream television, including The Masked Singer US and Family Feud, while he has featured in films Free Guy and Hotel Transylvania as a voice actor.
How did Ninja become one of the world’s biggest streamers?
After graduating from a school in Chicago, Ninja decided he wanted to play video games professionally, entering tournaments and live streaming his games.
Initially playing popular game Halo 3 professionally, Blevins began streaming the newly released Fortnite Battle Royale.
After winning a series of tournaments, he became the first PC player to surpass 5,000 Fortnite wins. Following this success, his fan base began to grow and his follower numbers on Twitch quickly grew from 500,000 in September 2017 to more than 2 million by March 2018.
On 1 August, 2019, Blevins left Twitch to stream after his wife and manager Jessica told The Verge that the contract with Twitch had limited the ability for Ninja to grow his brand outside video gaming and that “it really seemed like he was kind of losing himself and his love for streaming”.
Exactly two years after re-signing to Twitch, Blevins took a break from the platform before he announced his return to streaming, stating that he would simulcast his content across multiple platforms, including Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, where he has amassed nearly 24 million followers.
What are the signs of skin cancer?
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that can spread to other areas of the body after exposure to ultraviolet light, which comes from the sun and is used in sunbeds.
A new mole or a change in an existing mole may be signs of melanoma.
Melanomas can appear anywhere on your body, but they’re more common in areas that are often exposed to the sun.
Some rarer types can affect the eyes, soles of the feet, palms of the hands or genitals.
The NHS advises people tocheck their skin for any unusual changes. Use a mirror or ask a partner or friend to check any areas you cannot see.
Normal moles are usually round with smooth edges. Melanomas are often an uneven shape. They may have two different shaped halves and uneven edges.
The NHS advises to see a GP if: you have a mole that’s changed size, shape or colour; you have a mole that’s painful or itchy; you have a mole that’s inflamed, bleeding or crusty; you have a new or unusual mark on your skin that has not gone away after a few weeks; you have a dark area under a nail that has not been caused by an injury.