British YouTube star TommyInnit opened up about his experience with testicular torsion in an interview with medical professional Doctor Mike, describing it as the “most painful” thing he’s ever experienced.
Tommy has been open with his viewers about his personal life, notably introducing his girlfriend to his audience back in 2023 — but in February 2024, fans were shocked to see the creator laying in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask.
The Minecraft YouTuber claimed he’d undergone “ball surgery” in his Instagram post announcing the operation. Two months later, he gave a lengthier explanation of the ordeal in an interview with Doctor Mike, a fellow content creator and medical professional.
According to Tommy, he woke up one morning at 8 AM with extreme pain in his particulars, describing the sensation as so agonizing that he couldn’t even cry out.
“I woke up and I went, ‘Something’s off. Ahh!’ It was so painful, I didn’t scream,” he told Doctor Mike. “I think it lasted about a minute. It was probably the most painful thing I’ve ever had.”
The 20-year-old creator was living by himself at the time, and everyone who he’d normally contact in this situation was “out” and about — so he called emergency services and Ubered himself to the hospital, where a doctor claimed his right testicle “could be dying.”
Doctor Mike explained that Tommy had experienced a condition called ‘testicular torsion,’ which occurs when a testicle rotates, cutting off the blood supply and causing severe, sudden pain and swelling.
“He says, ‘You’ve been torsioned. I’m worried that your ball is dying right now. We need to save it,'” Tommy recalled his doctor saying.
Since the hospital didn’t have a “ball department,” as Tommy called it, the YouTuber was sent in an ambulance to another medical center 40 minutes away, where he was informed that he had a “dodgy sperm canal” and was “more prone to testicular torsion.”
After a few months, Tommy finally underwent surgery to “lock” the testicle in place and prevent any further twisting — a procedure he says made him quite “panicky” after his surgeon described the process.
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“I go outside and I am now really freaking out,” he said. “When I get really overwhelmed by body horror stuff, I have to start taking off my clothes to cool down, so I’m sort of in a t-shirt, in winter, pacing around. …I’m really freaking out.”
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Surgery to correct testicular torsion involves opening up the scrotum, untwisting the twisted spermatic cord, and attaching the testicle to the inside of the scrotum using stitches.
Testicular torsion is not common, only occurring in about 1 in 4,000 people under the age of 25, but it is a problem that Doctor Mike said is always considered an “emergency.”
After waking up from surgery, in his usual fashion, Tommy immediately started “telling jokes” to the medical staff, but claims he “can’t remember what [he] said.” Luckily, his huevos are now safe and secure thanks to the operation, and Tommy was able to rehearse (and now, recover from) his live tour.
“I felt very seen,” Tommy said of his medical experience, thankful that the situation was taken so seriously.
This isn’t the first medical emergency Tommy has dealt with; The YouTuber said he suffered from sepsis when he was young, a condition where the body responds wrongly to an infection, causing it to effectively ‘attack’ itself. Tommy says the sepsis was triggered by a cut on his knee, making for a “scary” situation for his parents at the time.
He also had surgery on his collarbone after falling out of a hammock and “landing funny” on “rock hard” ground, damaging his clavicle, so he’s no stranger to the operating room.
Tommy is currently resting from his live tour in the United States, one of the “greatest experiences” of his life that wrapped up on April 29, 2024.
