TotalBiscuit, the name used by popular YouTube gaming commentator and critic John Bain, has announced to fans that he has “full blown cancer.”
The British video game expert made the announcement Friday on Twitter, and while he did not divulge details about the diagnosis, Bain did say the outlook was good.
took too long. It’s full blown cancer. Starting chemo soon, then surgery. Doctors optimistic. Don’t make my mistake. Get checked.
— TotalBiscuit (@Totalbiscuit) May 23, 2014
it is one of the more treatable forms and it’s not too advanced yet. Chemo will be pill form. Surgery follow up should beat it we hope
— TotalBiscuit (@Totalbiscuit) May 23, 2014
The 30-year-old Bain is also known by the aliases The Cynical Brit and TotalHalibut. In addition to his regular gaming commentary videos, TotalBiscuit is known as a professional caster for games including StarCraft II and PlanetSide 2.
He is popular with fans, hitting one million YouTube subscribers in March. John Bain even has a Reddit page dedicated to him, claiming more than 30,000 subscribers.
Bain started his career in broadcast, hosting an extreme metal music show in the early 2000s, but after the recession later that decade he lost his job with a financial advisory company. During his unemployment phase, TotalBiscuit started producing and uploading videos featuring the beta release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm , which became wildly popular.
TotalBiscuit was the runner-up in the Golden Joystick 2012 awards in the Greatest YouTube Gamer category.
He has gotten involved in the video game industry as well, and in 2012 announced that he would be sponsoring 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 has not divulged whether he would be taking a break from producing videos while he was seeking cancer treatment.
Despite the cancer diagnosis, TotalBiscuit maintained his sense of humor, tweeting a Breaking Bad joke: “Anyone got a good crystal meth recipe lying around?”
