YouTuber with 18M subscribers reveals heartbreaking reason he's coming out of retirement
He initially quit YouTube earlier this year
One of the most popular YouTubers has revealed why he has returned from his 'retirement' after saying goodbye just six months ago, as his 18 million subscribers have relished the new videos he has been posting.
YouTubers get up to some wild activities, as while you can post pretty much anything on the internet's favorite video sharing platform, it's often the most unorthodox or adventurous ideas that surge to the top.
Some creators have explored some of the world's most remote areas and stayed at extremely isolated hotels, whereas others have taken trips through extremely dangerous countries or stepped foot on 'cursed' islands that locals steer well clear of.
One of the most popular 'exploration' style channels is the Outdoor Boys, run by Alaskan-born Luke Nichols with his three sons Tommy, Nate, and Jacob, as they have amassed over 18 million subscribers in the process.
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Some of their most popular videos have shown Luke take on extreme solo camping trips, hunt animals that you really wouldn't expect, and even live in the heart of nature, yet he made the decision to give it all up after the fame started to affect his personal life.
Sharing a video simply titled 'Goodbye' in May earlier this year, Luke revealed that he was 'retiring' from posting videos on YouTube, citing feelings of burnout and the difficulty of public life after social media fame.
That video has since earned over 21 million views and many were sad to see their favorite creator depart from the platform, but in recent weeks Luke has made a surprise return, and for a heartbreaking reason you might not expect.
While you might have noticed three videos go up on his own channel in the last few weeks – seeing him build an off-grid forge, hunt a dead walrus, and camp in Alaska's wilderness – this aren't actually sign that he's ended his retirement, as these videos are merely ones that he filmed before the 'Goodbye' video that hadn't yet been edited.
However, as reported by LADbible, Luke has made a completely new video for a special cause, posting it on the channel of his friend Steven, otherwise known as MyLifeOutdoors.
Titled 'Camping in Snowstorm With No Tent, No Sleeping Bag', the video's purpose is to provide Steven's channel with content and revenue over the holiday period while he currently cares for his wife who is battling cancer.
Fans of MyLifeOutdoors will be well aware that Steven's wife had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer earlier in the year, but this was recently discovered to be a completely different type of breast cancer, and "the worst type [...] that you can be diagnosed with."
She is currently undergoing a 22-week stretch of chemotherapy to fight the illness, but this has understandably seen Steven prioritise life away from YouTube, and his friend has stepped in to lend a helping hand.
"Some of you may know that Steven with the MyLifeOutdoors YouTube channel is helping his wife battle cancer while also raising four kids and running a YouTube channel," Luke wrote in a new Instagram post.
"That's a lot to deal with, so I made a video for him to have and post exclusively on his channel so that he didn't have to worry about making a video over the holidays."