YouTuber Brandon Buckingham shares recovery update after life-threatening illness

YouTuber Brandon Buckingham is recovering at home after suffering from multiple organ failure due to tuberculosis in late 2025.

In November 2025, prominent YouTuber and interviewer Brandon Buckingham updated his 1.24 million subscribers with a shocking post on X, saying that his heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys were failing.

In another post, Buckingham shared that he may have had tuberculosis, as well as septic pneumonia and liver failure. A few days later, the content creator brought attention to a GoFundMe he’d made to help cover his medical costs. Fans reached the $75K goal in mere hours.

Things were quiet for the next two months until January 29, 2026, when Buckingham updated worried fans with another tweet and a 28-minute-long YouTube video.

Brandon Buckingham describes health journey after multiple organ failure

In his video, Buckingham revealed that he’d been experiencing symptoms as early as June 2025 when he’d been filming a video about the Kia Boys in Detroit. During this project, the car he was sitting in as a passenger was shot at, sparking prolonged anxiety and insomnia that snowballed into a “mental breakdown” during his time at the Shambhala EDM festival some time later.

Adding to his insomnia, he began experiencing frequent bouts of vomiting. Things escalated when he began to notice numbness in his hands and feet. This, combined with his continued vomiting, insomnia, and the onset of sharp chest pain, prompted him to stop filming for the rest of the year to prioritize his physical health.

His vomiting episodes increased to “all day, every day” occurrences to the point he couldn’t even keep down bone broth or water, dropping him from 195 lbs to 165 lbs. 

YouTube: Brandon Buckingham

Buckingham’s illness caused him to drop from 195 lbs to 150 lbs. He is 6’3″ (190 cm).

Despite trying at-home remedies, going to the Urgent Care, and even trying his luck at an Emergency Room, nothing helped.

On November 18, 2025, the 6’3″ YouTuber weighed 157 lbs. His body finally “gave out” from his “indescribably brutal” symptoms, causing him to oversleep and miss his dog’s vet appointment. Concerned, his wife called the police for a wellness check while she was traveling, who found him delirious in his bed with swollen feet and complete deafness in both ears.

Buckingham was driven to the Urgent Care by a friend, where his blood pressure measured at a “life-threatening” 76/48.

Doctors discovered that he had sepsis with acute renal failure, acute kidney injury, pneumonia in both lungs, acute liver failure, acute pancreatitis, and hyperkalemia. They also suspected he had tuberculosis, and found that his lungs were damaged and his heart was failing, with blood pumping out of his main valve at just 15-20%.

Buckingham denied that his health problems were caused by substance abuse, saying his transparency to show himself under the influence in his videos may have caused viewers to believe he led a different lifestyle outside of his content than what his real life was actually like.

Finally, he was officially diagnosed with sepsis pneumonia, which he’d gotten from an infection that made its way into his lungs and bloodstream, causing the failure of multiple organs. He was also diagnosed with Coxsackie Virus type B, which was to blame for his heart failure.

Brandon Buckingham finally home after “indescribably brutal” illness

Buckingham was finally able to go home, and his liver, kidney, and pancreas have fully recovered. However, his lungs are permanently damaged from the infection, and he remains in heart failure. He will need to take medication for the rest of his life.’

Despite going through such a grueling experience, the YouTuber remained extremely thankful for all the love, support, and financial assistance he received during his illness. He will continue to focus on his health and edit the content he’s already filmed, focusing on his Kia Boys documentary for the time being.

He encouraged fans to continue donating to his GoFundMe, revealing that his medical bills now total $450,000. 

Fans are leaving their well-wishes and support in the comments underneath his latest posts, and his GoFundMe has raised over $327,804 at the time of writing this article.