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Ellis the Brave's bid to be a YouTuber

Hannah GriffithsWest Midlands
Dan Holtom A teenage boy with brown eyes and shoulder length, dark blonde hair looks directly at the camera while smiling. He is wearing a red tshirt.Dan Holtom
Ellis, 16, has tricuspid atresia which often leaves him too tired to leave the house.

A teenager, whose parents were told he would be unlikely to live to see his eighth birthday is now following his dream of creating his own social media channel.

Ellis, 16, from Long Marston in Warwickshire, was born with the congenital heart condition tricuspid atresia. He tires easily and is not able to leave his home often.

The teenager has had several surgeries on his heart but doctors said they were not a complete cure and so he receives palliative care.

His YouTube channel has become his link to the outside world. Mum Vicki said he could rarely get out of bed so his channel gave him something to look forward to.

A teenager with long blonde hair sits at a laptop with red lit keyboard keys, looking at YouTube videos. He's wearing a red Ferrari t-shirt with long black sleeves underneath
Ellis' parents say his YouTube channel has given him a 'sense of purpose'.

Ellis' Youtube channel is called Ellis The Brave, named after his life-long battle with his condition.

One of the valves of his heart did not form properly in the womb meaning less blood is pumped to his lungs.

"When he had one of his heart surgeries, they basically said he'd be lucky to see his 8th birthday," Vicki said.

"Every milestone, like now being 16, and leaving school, it's so emotional. It's very difficult to not live every day worrying about what could be."

'Sense of purpose'

But the family say Ellis' passion for making gaming YouTube videos has given him a sense of purpose.

"He's autistic on top of his heart and lung condition, so he doesn't interact with the world in the same way everybody else does, but this is the one thing that has always been a constant with him, which is it gives him a purpose, it gives him that drive," dad Dan said.

The family are now fundraising for a new laptop for him.

"The reality is the laptop that he's currently using, it's quite old, it's a hand-me-down, but the screen's broken, it's glitching, it's causing him problems now, which is going to affect his channel," Dan continued.

A social media campaign has seen more than £3,000 raised, just short of the £4,000 target the family were aiming for.

Dan said that has been 'humbling' to see.

"The response has been truly amazing, it's just unbelievable."

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