Ninja Shares an Update on His Cancer Diagnosis — "I'm Melanoma Free" (EXCLUSIVE)

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.

Though Tyler usually chooses to share only small looks at his life behind the gaming computer here and there, he recently revealed that he was diagnosed with Melanoma. During a recent interview, Tyler updated Distractify with what's happened since his diagnosis — and he has some good news.

Just over a month after sharing the news online about his diagnosis, Tyler confirmed with Distractify that he's completely clear of melanoma and recovering well from his surgeries.

"I just recently got my last stitch out from one of my mole removals," he said. In total, he had two moles removed and two other suspicious ones biopsied as a precaution.

"Those came back good as well. So like officially I'm great — I'm melanoma free and now it's just up to Jess and I to stay vigilant and be wary of new moles and current ones that are already there, if they're if they're changing. And just keep an eye on it," he said. "So [it's] just a lot of maintenance I guess for the rest of my life."

Tyler said his wife, Jess, is to thank for the push to see a doctor so they could catch it early.

"I was lucky to have my beautiful wife who was just like, 'Hey, we're in Florida a lot and we're in the sun all the time now, so let's just get a mole check,'" Tyler said.

In a post on X on March 26, Tyler got a bit personal and shared a health update with his followers, disclosing the melanoma diagnosis.

"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.

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.