Renowned game critic TotalBiscuit retires from YouTube after his cancer treatments stop working and his health rapidly deteriorates.

[ItsMitch]

Just a heads up, this will probably be a rough read for followers / fans of TB. 

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/cynicalbritofficial/comments/8g4eoj/official_totalbiscuits_future/ | https://dotesports.com/culture/news/total-biscuit-retires-23244

Renowned game critic TotalBiscuit has announced he'll be stepping away from YouTube as his health and his cancer treatments fail. His PR team announced his future onto his subreddit as TB has been forbidden to view Reddit (Apart from r/rarepuppers) and in a series of tweets, he also confirmed that his weekly podcast, the Co Optional Podcast will remain in place but it'll be changed from 3 hours to 2 hours, with now a 5 minute break instead of a 20 minute one.

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When I went into hospital a week or so ago, it was accompanied by the news that conventional chemotherapy effectiveness had been exhausted. My body has become resistant to all forms of it according to my oncologist. 46 chemo treatments, 138 days plugged into a pump. Let nobody ever say I wasn't stubborn. Unfortunately this was followed up a couple of days later with some more bad news. My liver is failing and its effectiveness has lowered past the point where the clinical trials I had been offered would take me on. Yes apparently there are things that are too dangerous for even the terminal. Obviously we're going to keep looking for other trials but I'm currently coming to terms with the fact that I don't have long left and right now at any rate, there is literally nothing I can do about it other than try to manage the pain as best as possible and stay as hydrated as possible to ease the pressure on the liver. There are quite a few pain management options left to try and the ones that I am using can be increased in dosage quite significantly if need be. The majority of the pain is being caused by pressure on the spine from hardened nodules in the liver and lung as well as fluid. We haven't fully explored the options for dealing with all of that, but its high priority so that my quality-of-life can improve.

 

That's what it comes down to now, getting my quality-of-life to as good a standard as possible. Even though you don't really have any treatments to fight with any more, I firmly believe that the will to live is a very strong asset and that is much easier to maintain when you're not in crippling pain all the time.

 

That will most likely be my last health update, unless some miracle happens or we do indeed find a trial that can do something despite the damage to my liver. I'd ask people not to speculate about how long I might have left. I've deliberately left out some details to try and reduce the behavior, though it might very well have the opposite effect. All I do know is that kind of thing is upsetting to some of my viewers that read it and I'd rather not encourage it. I've already exceeded the "usual" lifespan of someone with my condition so whatever numbers people come up with are just that.

 

So incase people have been out of the loop with his cancer treatment, TB has had cancer for 4 years (It happened in April 2014) and doctors gave him a life expectancy of 2-3 years at max. 

 

To cut a massive reddit thread short, his PR team left his closing thoughts

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What we leave behind

It goes further than that though. When I leave this world I want to leave something my family can use to help them earn. Not only would I be ok with Genna taking over my channels and assets once I'm gone, I'd be delighted if she did. I've been encouraging her for years to create more content for Youtube, hopefully as we make a bunch of fun videos together over the next however-long, that confidence will grow. I fully expect The Co-optional Podcast to go on and I love the thought that once I'm gone, the channels will go on in my absence, hosted by the person who knows me best and has been with me for the better part of my adult life.

If this is all a bit brutally honest... well, it is me. I want you to see where I'm coming from, I always have and I really believe that's what made me an effective and useful critic. It's been a privilege, thank you all for letting me into your life and do something so important as to have an impact on how you spend your hard-earned money. Thankfully Youtube is thriving with great review and critical content now, there's plenty of awesome choices and considering most of my critical content has been reserved for the podcast over the last year, many of you have most likely found the places you can rely on.

 

TL:DR - Conventional treatments ineffective, liver too damage for clinical trials that we know of. I'm retiring as a critic to spend what's left of my life sharing my love of gaming with my wife and all of you via co-op videos and streams. The podcast will continue every week, with a streamlined 2-hour format. We have no plans to launch any kind of donation campaign and suggest above a list of ways to support us if you would like to.

 

I respectfully ask you don't speculate how long he has left to live. TB said he'll fight this to the very end, poor guy.

If you wish to support him:

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We've had A LOT of questions about donations, how people can help etc. That's always humbling to see. Some suggested a GofundMe. I'm not comfortable with taking donations when I'm still able to work and have income from several different sources. I don't begrudge anyone for using donations as a form of income, its just always seemed inappropriate for us when we have several other ways to making money that result in both parties getting something. If you would like to help, do the things you've always done. Watch our videos without adblock or with Youtube Red (yes Red helps, a lot, much more than watching an ad).

 

Support our podcast sponsors, Squarespace and [Audible at **]- they've both been very good to us over the past couple of years and let us pay Dodger and Jesse a salary for doing the show rather than just "exposure" (though they got a lot of damn exposure, let's not sell ourselves short here").

 

Watch our streams and consider subscribing. There'll be more content coming on Twitch than there has been for a while with streams with Genna. Our subscription is a service, giving you instant access to VoDs rather than having to wait for them to hit Youtube (in the case of Cooptional, thats 48 hours afterwards), no Twitch ads, 50 chat emotes, access to the subscriber only chat and a 10% discount on our t-shirts and hoodies. We've done our best to make subscribing a service model, not a donation model and we're going to try and keep it that way, including more features and discounts if we can.

 

Speaking of merchandise, yes the purchase of a shirt is very helpful. Margins on t-shirts are ridiculous, that's why everyone and their mother wants to sell them to you. [http://totalbiscuit.shop] is where we sell ours.

We do have another partnership in the works as well, with a company you should be quite familiar with.

 

Lastly, I'll be taking the occasional brand deal here and there. Even though I'm not a critic anymore, I still fully believe in disclosure, honesty with the audience and only taking deals for games you actually like. People can see right through the fake bullshit anyway, so why waste your time and I'd quite like however many videos I've got left in me to be fun. I'm not playing your crappy game, no matter how much money you try to slip me, so you can take me off those mobile mailing lists please.

 

These are all better than asking for donations. We're still running a business and I want to keep acting like it. All that said, if something goes horribly wrong, if my insurance stops paying out for whatever reason or if faced between draining all savings and leaving my family with nothing but our physical assets and asking for help, you better believe I'll be asking for help. The family comes first.

 

Peaceful discussion is always appreciated friends

 

His Wife, Genna posted her statement on the reddit thread

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Just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has posted supportive comments and well wishes for my husband and our family. No doubt, this news will be difficult to take in for our entire fanbase — whether you’ve been with us since the days of BluePlz or a relative newcomer who tunes in weekly to the Co-Optional Podcast.

 

I won’t burden you all with details on just how badly this news has affected me, but please believe I am doing all I can to cope so that I can be the best possible support advocate for my husband’s care and comfort. That being said, I would

appreciate the restraint of this community in posting any “WebMD” advice or “Dr Google” replies and DMs as I would rather spend this time with my husband. Thank you for your support and understanding.

 

-Genna Bain

 

 

[AlTech]

That's a shame that his health is in such a condition. He's really helped the gaming industry a lot in these past few years.

[NelizMastr]

Well shit. I wish his wife and family lots of strength dealing with what might be his final weeks if not days on this earth. 

[samcool55]

I don't really know what to say...

He did some amazing things and i really hope that he will somehow recover. I mean he did some good things for the gaming community and i'm happy with the things he did.

[PineyCreek]

The original post has several ways to help support him, though he's not taking direct donations at this time.

[ItsMitch]

2 minutes ago, PineyCreek said:

The original post has several ways to help support him, though he's not taking direct donations at this time.

I've updated my post with the ways to support him, cheers. 

[Guest The Viking]

Not the only one, the guy from Lazy town (robbie rotten) is in the same situation, treatment failed and decided to just live his last days peacefully.

[mynameisjuan]

Lost 5 family members to cancer in the past 2 years and 2 still have it. 

 

Fuck cancer. 

[matrix07012]

I don't like the guy that much, but he and his family don't deserve to suffer like this.

[Soppro]

Wow, I am astonished. I used to watch his videos a few years ago and haven't been keeping up to date with what he's been doing so this a surprise to me. He was an amazing game reviewer/commentator and it's such a shame to see another person's life being crippled by cancer. I wish him and his family all the best. 

[NMS]

I don't know the person, but I hope he can enjoy the rest of his life. And if keeping up with the podcast is one of those things, I don't see why I shouldn't check it once.

[LAwLz]

12 hours ago, IceCold008 said:

-snip-

As much as people like to claim that "everyone is equal", that is simply not true.

We care more about people we have a connection with. Since a lot of people watch and follows TB, they feel a far stronger connection/relation to him than to some other random person.

10 people in Africa could die and I would not care at all, but if my mom died I would cry rivers.

 

This really shouldn't be a hard concept to understand, and your comment is very disrespectful. Show some decency.

[Syntaxvgm]

12 hours ago, IceCold008 said:

-snip-

 

12 hours ago, IceCold008 said:

-snip-

he's a public figure. His job was literally entertainment/journalism. Of course you hear about it.

 

I personally didn't give a shit about David Bowie but a lot of people did when he died from liver cancer. All he did was sing for a living. Vastly more important jobs than that out there. Nothing wrong with it.

 

[Reavantos]

Poor guy is losing his fight with cancer. It's amazing he carried on as long as he has, and as he states in the post he has outlived the original projections. 

official reddit post


Him talking about living with stage 4 cancer on h3 podcast



 

[Humbug]

Fuck cancer.

 

Everywhere I turn it's cancer. From my friends, to my family, to my girlfriend's family, even my previous dog.

 

Lots of respect to TB. Both professionally and even personally how he has handled this.

[GDRRiley]

I have watched TB for a long time and I knew this was coming the question was when. 

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All that said, if something goes horribly wrong, if my insurance stops paying out for whatever reason or if faced between draining all savings and leaving my family with nothing but our physical assets and asking for help, you better believe I'll be asking for help. The family comes first.

I love this quote. 

[Misanthrope]

I am happy with his move: In my opinion he's done enough to advance the cause of videogame consumers and he should now just try to be with his family instead of the constant stress of video producing and being a public person.

 

I am more than sure others will continue to produce valuable content for as long as needed and his contributions were not in vain.

[Mutoh]

That's really unfortunate to hear. I still remember when he first announced what he was going through and it seemed like there was genuine good progress up until now. I honestly can't imagine how hard it must be for him and his family. He seemed like a really clever dude and it sucks that he has been dealt a shitty hand. 

 

I hope he can find some peace and can still do some of the things he wants to do. 

[Techicolors]

a huge accomplishment that he fought out this long. think it's been more than 3 years, that's more than admirable. 

[Reavantos]

2 minutes ago, Technicolors said:

a huge accomplishment that he fought out this long. think it's been more than 3 years, that's more than admirable. 

 

Especially when they gave him 2 years to live as a best case scenario in october of 2015. You know damn well his stubborn ass will not let go easily still. He serves as a inspiration. Even when faced with a terminal illness, he tries to enjoy his life to the fullest extent. 

[Teddy07]

wow.

I thought he won the battle against cancer but I don´t watch his videos anymore.

[Reavantos]

Just now, Teddy07 said:

wow.

I thought he won the battle against cancer but I don´t watch his videos anymore.

Colon cancer is one of the worst from a survivability standpoint, even when you catch it early. The fact he has outlived their projections by this margin shows how well he has been treated, and how strong he is. Being faced with your own mortality is a strange thing. Some people take it well, some don't, and there is no wrong approach. It's all in how you cope.

[HalGameGuru]

Doesn't have to be dead to pay respects. That stance he's taken is deserving

[JohnMiller92]

12 hours ago, IceCold008 said:

-snip-

No disrespect towards other cancer patients, but it's mostly because he's really popular. And influences a lot of people. That's why it's in the news, it's just that simple really

[SteveGrabowski0]

Tragic news. Damn I have always enjoyed his port reports. Between TB's treatments and Elrich from Tech of Tomorrow being in really bad shape this has been a really rotten week for youtubers I used to follow.