Popular gaming YouTuber Ninja, also known as Tyler Blevins, has announced to his fans that he has been diagnosed with cancer.

The 32-year-old took to Twitter to make the announcement and said it had fortunately been caught early.

He wrote: “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.

“I’m grateful to have hope in finding this early, but please take this as a PSA to get skin checkups.”

The health experts among you may already know that melanoma is a type of skin cancer which can spread to other parts of the body.

The main cause of melanoma is exposure to ultraviolet light from sources such as the sun and sunbeds.

Age, paleness of skin, moles and a family history of the disease are all contributing factors in the potential development of skin cancer.

The most common treatment for melanoma is surgery, but treatments vary depending on how widespread the cancer is and whether it has spread to other parts of the body.

Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Amazon’s Crown Channel

However, the link between sunlight and melanoma on the foot, an area of the body which is usually far less exposed to UV, is unclear.

The popular YouTuber was flooded with messages of support as many wanted to wish Ninja well with his recovery.

Plenty said they were ‘praying for you’ and hoping for the most positive outcome in this situation.

Many others praised Blevins’ wife, Jessica, for scheduling a checkup for him, and she commented that had the couple not moved to Florida she might not have ‘started scheduling annual skin checkups’.

Given the lack of connection between melanoma on the foot and sunlight it might not have been caught.

Plenty echoed Ninja’s message to get regular checkups, as the only way something like cancer is going to be caught early is if it’s being checked for at all.

A mum has revealed her devastating diagnosis which has left her with just months to live after seeking treatment for shoulder pain.

Erika Diarte-Carr, a 33-year-old mum of two is now planning her own funeral after her pain turned out to be terminal.

It was only three years ago that Erika walked into the emergency department, where she complained of painful discomfort in her shoulder.

She was then inspected by healthcare professionals, who delivered the devastating blow to her, and now that her symptoms continue to get worse, she has to prepare herself for her own death.

On her fundraising page, which was created to raise funds for her funeral, she explained how she had been keeping her diagnosis a secret.

Erika said: “I have been ashamed and embarrassed for people to know the truth, that I have kept this a secret for as long as I could but the physical effects are starting to take control and I can’t hide it any longer.

Erika Diarte-Carr was told she has months to live (Erika Diarte-Carr/GoFundMe)

“I’ve never been good at accepting or asking for help but unfortunately, I believe I’ve come to a point in my life and health where that is no longer an option for me. I am no longer able to physically work which has put a major financial burden on me.”

Unfortunately, it was found that she has a highly aggressive form of small cell lung carcinoma along with multiple tumours throughout her body.

Erika has a five-year-old daughter called Ailiyah and a seven-year-old son named Jeremiah, who she has been trying to be strong for during her three years of cancer treatment.

But little over a week ago, she was told she had just three months left to live.

It was on May 7, 2022 that she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, small cell lung carcinoma, which is the day before US Mother’s Day.

When her condition improved, she was able to stop treatment to see how she got on, only to develop Cushing’s Syndrome, on January 17, 2024, which is a rare hormonal disorder that happens when the body is exposed to too much cortisol.

This new diagnosis caused her to rapidly gain weight and caused her body to swell and her muscles and bones to deteriorate.

She was due to restart her treatment, on September 18, 2024, but has decided to forgo treatment so she can spend her remaining time with her children.

Erika was diagnosed with Cushing’s Syndrome. (ABC)

It was that same day she was told about how long she has left.

She wrote on her GoFundMe page: “Unfortunately, I wasn’t given the best news. Due to my prognosis, I have decided to discontinue treatments as they will no longer help. I have been given three months to live.

“Three months to spend with my babies and loved ones. Three months to make the best of what time I have left.

“During these next couple of months, I need to make sure my kids will be ok after I am gone. I am faced now with the most difficult thing of planning my own funeral. Due to me not being able to work for months now I do not have any finances saved up or any life insurance set aside for this situation.

“I have looked into the expenses and I need to raise about $5,000 to ensure funeral costs are covered plus I want to leave something behind for my babies.”

This Morning star Trevor Sorbie admitted that he ignored some of the symptoms of the bowel cancer which he said has left him with ‘weeks left to live’.

The famous barber appeared on the ITV morning show last month to say that medical professionals had told him in June that he had ‘maybe six months’ remaining, and during a scan in September, they’d learned that ‘no treatment is going to work’.

He told The Times that it was his third wife Carole who’d called an ambulance for him back in 2019 when he was bleeding heavily, and initially said that he’d had no symptoms.

However, she reminded him that he’d been having constipation and diarrhoea for months and ignored those symptoms before the ambulance was called.

“I’m a man. Men are scared,” he said.

Trevor Sorbie said he had just ‘weeks left to live’. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Doctors told him he was lucky afterwards, as he went through surgery to remove a mass from his bowels and said that the tumour had been contained with just a five percent chance of it coming back.

Sadly, Trevor was among that unfortunate five percent.

According to the NHS, constipation and diarrhoea that are unusual for a person are among the symptoms of bowel cancer to be on the lookout for.

They say that changes to your poo should be seen as warning signs, and in addition to constipation or diarrhoea that can also mean them being softer.

Health experts said that needing to go to the loo more or less often than usual could both be signs to cause concern, and if one’s stool was red or black then it could be a sign of blood in it.

The NHS urges you to speak to a doctor if you’ve been having symptoms for three weeks or more. (Getty Stock Photo)

Other symptoms of bowel cancer include bleeding from the backside, feeling like you need the toilet after you’ve just been, pain in your belly, the presence of a lump there, bloating, unexplained weight loss and feeling very tired without knowing why.

If you’ve had any of these symptoms for three weeks or more, then you should go and see a doctor, and the NHS encourages you not to be embarrassed over talking about what you might be going through.

The doctors and nurses will have spoken about these symptoms before and will be there to help you.

The NHS in particular encourages you to call 111 and get an urgent appointment with your GP in the event that your poo is black or red, or you’re having bloody diarrhoea.

Should you be bleeding non-stop from your bottom or be bleeding to the point that it’s turning the toilet water red then you should call 999 and get to A&E as quickly as possible.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.

Warning: This article contains discussion of cancer which some readers may find distressing

Gary Sinise’s son has died from a rare cancer aged 33.

The Forrest Gump star announced yesterday (27 February) that his son, McCanna ‘Mac’ Anthony Sinise, died on 5 January following a years-long battle with Chordoma.

Mac had recently finished working on his album Resurrection & Revival, and died the same week it went to press.

Gary Sinise Foundation

He was diagnosed with the rare spinal cancer back in August 2018, only two months after Gary’s wife Moira was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

But while she went into remission and has stayed cancer-free since treatment, the actor wrote that his son’s disease spread and ‘disabled him more and more as time went on’.

Gary announced his son’s death on the Gary Sinise Foundation website.

“He died on January 5, 2024 at 3:25pm, and was laid to rest on January 23rd,” the actor wrote in a statement.

“Like any family experiencing such a loss, we are heartbroken and have been managing as best we can…I am so blessed, fortunate, and proud to be his dad.”

The star, well known for playing Lieutenant Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump, explained he had ‘never heard’ of Chordoma when his son was diagnosed.

Chordoma is a slow growing cancer of tissue found inside the spine, and the National Cancer Institute say just one in one million people are diagnosed with it each year.

Gary Sinise Foundation

Gary explained: “In 70% of the cases the initial tumour can be removed, and it is cured. But in 30% of the cases, perhaps about 90 people per year, the cancer returns.”

While Mac underwent two spinal surgeries, the Chordona had returned by May 2019, beginning ‘a long battle that disabled hi more and more as time went on’.

The musician joined the Foundation back in 2017, working alongside his dad to support veterans, first responders and their families.

He was also a drummer in the actor’s band, the Lt. Dan Band, which visits military hospitals around the US.

“Those were some great times, father and son rockin’ out together for the troops,” Gary said.

Mac launched the Gary Sinise Foundation podcast, doing an interview with his dad the day before his fourth spinal surgery in 2020. He then had to finish his work with the foundation to ‘fight his battle’.

Gary Sinise Foundation

“As parents, it is so difficult losing a child,” he continued. “My heart goes out to all who have suffered a similar loss, and to anyone who has lost a loved one.

“We’ve all experienced it in some way. Over the years I have met so many families of our fallen heroes. In sharing our story, we hope to shine a little bit of light on what has been a difficult time for us as Mac was truly a light for all of us.

“An incredible inspiration to those who knew and loved him, he faced his battle with grace, courage, and love. Even with one setback after another, he never stopped living and learning, creating, and giving, and loving.

“He fought an uphill battle against a cancer that has no cure, but he never quit trying.”

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.