YouTube star TommyInnit is trying to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), the Daily Mail can reveal.
Tom Simons, 21, who is better known to his 24million subscribers as TommyInnit, is backing GOSH’s campaign to raise £300million for a new child cancer centre in central London.
It’s a cause close to his heart after the death of fellow YouTuber, Technoblade, who died in 2022 aged just 23 after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called a sarcoma.
Mr Simons told the Daily Mail: ‘I was a massive, massive fan of his YouTube channel. I was 14 or 15, he was 18.
‘I began making similar videos and worked my way up in the community, that’s how we met. I was so enthusiastic and we became really good friends.
‘He was someone who was deeply special to me. I loved him, I looked up to him. I idolised him. But at the same time he was also a good friend.
‘I was so young when he told me about his diagnosis. I was sort of in denial about it, I was so shocked,’ he added.
‘Now I’ve had the time to reflect on it, I feel a great responsibility to do anything I can to help. It really is the least I can do.’
Technoblade, who created content about Minecraft, began suffering arm pain in 2021 and put it down to repetitive stress caused by gaming.
But after his arm suddenly swelled up he attended hospital where doctors then discovered he had a sarcoma — a rare type of cancer that affects the bones and soft tissue — and it had spread to other parts of the body.
The content creator, from San Francisco, kept his identity closely guarded and only revealed his name in his final video as ‘Alex’.
He shot to fame on YouTube back in 2013 — eventually going on to amass more than 10 million subscribers.
Yet, in July 2022, a year after his diagnosis, he died at the age of just 23, devastating fans across the world.
Millions of his followers and fellow YouTubers have since picked up his legacy, going on to raise money for further research into the condition.
Now, Tom, who is also an ambassador for Sarcoma UK, will be hosting a charity YouTube livestreamed fundraiser for Great Ormond Street on Saturday October 18.
Dubbed ‘The Curious Case of the Copper Key’, the interactive mystery, follows six suspects who have already claimed the key — but viewers must work out who it really belongs to and what it opens.
They will work alongside Tom and other popular TikTok and YouTube stars including Abbie Budden and Keith Habersberger, better known as one of the Try Guys.
‘It’s such a worthy cause, I wanted to get involved in anything I could do to help,’ Tom said.
‘This event will also help keep Alex’s legacy going. Not only that, it’ll be really fun. Not to sound cliché but we need positivity to help make progress.
‘Hopefully it’ll show people that there can be some sunshine behind the clouds.’
Tom, who visited GOSH just weeks ago to meet children and their families, added: ‘I remember one of them saying to me, “you’re my third favourite YouTuber”.
‘So I said, who’s your first and they replied ‘”Techno”. I thought these children have a role model who has also suffered in the same way they are. It was a lot for me, I’ll be honest.
‘Just because children’s cancer is rare doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Just being able to provide that sort of support is important.’
GOSH’s world-leading new facility will care for youngsters with some of the most complex conditions and support care for them and their families, from diagnosis to remission.
It is set to include new operating theatres, a new critical care unit, a bigger hospital school for children going through treatment and more outside spaces.
Since it launched the charity appeal two years ago it has raised just over £200million and construction on the new facility began in August.
It is hoped this will be completed in 2028, with it open to children from 2029.
The need is also pressing.
More children than ever are being diagnosed with cancer, with the number rising more than 15 per cent since the 1990s, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Around 1,600 under-15s are now diagnosed on the NHS every year.
In under 25s, there are roughly 2,300 new cancer cases in young people annually.
Yet, paediatric cancer receives a mere four per cent of research funding.
GOSH cares for children with the hardest to treat cancers and treats the highest number of children with cancer in the UK.
‘There are huge developments in tailored and personalised medicine at the moment, and I’m proud to say that GOSH, is at the forefront of those,’ Sarah Bissell, deputy director of relationship fundraising at GOSH Charity, said.
‘We’re also looking to find new treatments that can replace things such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
‘The new children’s cancer centre will give us the space and the room to bring more children onto those trials,’ she added.
‘And it’s very much our ambition that it will be a place where every child will have a chance to access a clinical trial.
‘It’s really going to transform the way the hospital can provide care.’
Young people’s cancers usually have no known cause.
For most cancer types incidence increases with age, which largely reflects cell DNA damage accumulating over time.
Damage can result from biological processes or from exposure to risk factors.
‘We have children with us that stay for some of the longest times in the UK,’ Ms Bissell said.
‘If you’re receiving care for cancer, especially if you’re having a bone marrow therapy for example or a bone marrow transplant, you might be with us for nine months.
‘In this new cancer centre, having that feeling of home is really important to both our us and our patients.
‘The public have been so, so generous, and we’re really grateful to them,’ she adds.
‘We’ve still got £100million left to go to help build the centre.
‘So these new innovations and finding new ways to reach people, through livestreams and gaming is important.
‘We’re incredibly grateful Tom came to us and said he wanted to support the cause. This event not only supports the children’s centre but it’ll be a lot of fun.’
- GOSH Charity’s livestreamed fundraiser will take place on October 18. To tune in, visit tommydetective.com
