Just over a week after being hospitalized for organ failure, YouTube personality Brandon Buckingham is speaking out from his hospital bed in the intensive care unit. The 30-year-old internet star, known by a combined 2 million followers across Instagram and YouTube for his man-on-the-street-style interviews, woke up a week ago feeling senseless, with swollen feet and intense pain. At the emergency room, he was told that several of his organs were failing.
Buckingham reveals to PEOPLE that he was diagnosed with sepsis from pneumonia, which led to kidney and liver failure, and a rare form of coxsackievirus that triggered heart failure. As of Nov. 25, his heart's ejection fraction is between 15 and 20%, considered very severe congestive heart failure. "I'm really afraid I'm going to die," he says. "I can't get out of the ICU until my heart stabilizes, and my heart is not stabilizing."
As he describes his family—he and his wife welcomed a daughter last year—Buckingham's voice breaks with emotion. "I'm afraid of what's going to happen," he says through tears. "I have an 11-month-old daughter. I just want to not be dead, you know what I mean?"
The content creator first shared on Nov. 21 that he had been hospitalized for several health issues, writing on X, "Things are not looking good my friends." In a GoFundMe he opened to raise money for his family, Buckingham wrote, "I don't know what's going to happen to me, but I know for sure if I do survive, it will be a very long recovery, and I will not be able to provide for my family for at least several months if things go well. I will need help with things like my mortgage, utilities, baby supplies, and the over 100k in medical bill debt I have racked up while dealing with this nightmare. I also will likely need to be on heart medication the rest of my life."
The fundraiser has already surpassed its initial goal of $75,000, collecting over $296,000 from more than 2,500 donors—including a $10,000 donation from fellow YouTuber MrBeast. "Reaching this goal and then even more is very humbling," Buckingham tells PEOPLE. "I feel very, very blessed and very, very lucky to be alive."
He continues, "If things were to be negative and end off negatively, what a blessing to see how much the world cares about me, you know? But God willing, that's not going to happen."
