Ninja, Twitch's Most-Followed Streamer, Has Been Diagnosed With Melanoma

It's not easy being the most-followed streamer on Twitch, but Tyler Blevins does it well. Known online as Ninja, Tyler has been a prolific Fortnite streamer for years, currently holding 19 million followers on Twitch alone. Though he previously had an exclusivity deal with the Amazon-owned streaming platform, he'll often simultaneously stream across platforms when he goes live.

With the hefty following comes plenty of interest about his personal life, of course. Though Tyler chooses to share only small looks at his life behind the gaming computer here and there, he recently revealed a particularly scary health update with his followers. What happened to him?

In a Twitter post on March 26, Tyler got a bit personal and shared a health update with his followers. "Alright I’m still in a bit of shock but want to keep you all updated," he started.

"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," he continued. "It came back as melanoma, but they are optimistic that we caught it in the early stages."

Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer, but like all cancers, if it's caught early enough it can be treated. More than 200,000 cases of melanoma are diagnosed in the U.S. every year, making it fairly common.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just the one spot Tyler had biopsied. He said another spot appeared near the original biopsy site, which his doctors chose to biopsy as well to be safe.

"Today they biopsied that [spot] 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 continued in his post.

Unfortunately, at this time we don't know if he is currently melanoma-free or if he will have to undergo additional treatment, as Tyler is currently waiting on the results of the second biopsy.

That said, he noted that he decided to share this news with his followers as a reminder to get regular checkups. Most cancer diagnoses are treatable if caught early enough, which is why it's important to be proactive with your health whenever possible.

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

The replies of his post are filled with other streamers wishing him well including names like Avery and SypherPK.

"Hoping for the best. Lots of love to Jess for being proactive as well," Sypher wrote.

"So thankful you caught this early. Sending lots of love and healing your way, Tyler," the official YouTube Twitter account replied.

We wish Tyler all the best in his healing journey in the coming days as we wait for more news.