YouTube star Ninja.Photo:Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Jamie McCarthy/Getty
YouTubestar Ninja, né Richard Tyler Blevins, has been diagnosed with skincancer.
On Tuesday, the gamer, 32, revealed his wife, Jessica Blevins, 31, had scheduled an appointment with a dermatologist for him for an annual skin/mole checkup.
During the appointment, it was recommended Tyler have a mole on the bottom of his foot removed as a precaution, and it turned out to be melanoma, which is a form of skin cancer.
“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,” the online starwrote on X(formerly known as Twitter).
YouTube star Ninja.John Lamparski/Getty
John Lamparski/Getty
“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,” he added.
“I’m grateful to have hope in finding this early, but please take this as a PSA to get skin checkups,” the internet personality, who has 23.9 million subscribers on YouTube, concluded.
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TheAmerican Academy of Dermatologystates that melanoma “develops on skin that gets too much sun” and “can begin in places where the sun rarely shines, such as your foot.”
“Because most people never check their feet for signs of melanoma, this cancer often spreads before it’s noticed,” the site adds, urging people to look for signs to spot melanoma early when it’s highly treatable.
Jessica, who married Ninja in 2017, reposted the online streamer’s message, and added that she started getting annual checkups after they moved to Florida.
“Crazy butterfly effect moment — I probably wouldn’t have started scheduling annual skin checkups yet if we didn’t move to Florida. Foot melanoma is not sun-related, so it would have been there anyways and we might not have found it. Thank God 🙏🏼,” shewrote.
She then thanked fans for their support, adding, “Also, thank you for your outpouring love. I’m here to be strong for @Ninja and give him all the help and support he needs! We feel strong knowing God is walking with us through all of this!”
source: people.com
