John Bain, the man known as TotalBrit and CynicalBiscuit within the YouTube and gaming communities, passed away on Thursday.
The beloved game critic and reviewer was 33 years old.
He is survived by his wife, Genna Bain, and his stepson, Orion.
Bain was an award-winning critic who got his start in 2010. Soon after, he partnered with HuskyStarcraft and later with Sony Entertainment for E3 in 2013.
Despite his 2.2 million followers on YouTube and his popularity on the video game livestreaming platform, Twitch, Bain announced his retirement in April.
He reached this decision after the bowel cancer that he had been battling metastasized to his liver.
At the beginning of May, Bain took to reddit to share the difficult news with his fans and followers in a lengthy but informative post.
Bain wrote:
“When I went into hospital a week or so ago, it was accompanied by the news that conventional chemotherapys effectiveness had been exhausted.”
There are no good cancers, but bowel cancer is one of the worst.
“My body has become resistant to all forms of it according to my oncologist. 46 chemo treatments, 138 days plugged into a pump.”
Tragically, when it rains, it pours.
“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.”
He makes a joke out of it.
“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.”
He was heartbreakingly correct.
“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.”
He’s not talking about a cure. Just seeking relief.
“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.”
That’s good. No one should have to suffer in pain.
“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.”
What he’s talking about here is what they call palliative care.
“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.”
He then asks his fans, who are naturally curious, to please be tasteful when discussing his health.
“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.”
He’s thinking of other viewers with more delicate constitutions.
“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.”
He says that he has already beaten the odds.
“I’ve already exceeded the ‘usual’ lifespan of someone with my condition so whatever numbers people come up with are just that.”
He didn’t want this terrible news to catch his viewers unawares.
“Why am I telling you? Because if you’re a viewer of my content, its relevant to you.”
His wife posted a beautiful but very sad tribute to him to mark his passing.
Bain’s notice to his fans mentioned her, of course.
“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,”
In other words, he is encouraging his fans to watch his wife’s gameplay videos on YouTube and Twitch in his memory. This could be a powerful revenue stream for her.
“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.”
That would be wonderful.
“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.”
He is sorely missed.
