YouTuber Connor “CDawgVA” Colquhoun (26) bicycled across the Japanese island of Hokkaido for a week, raising money for a foundation for immune diseases. The friendly Twitch streamer ironmouse, who is herself sick, was overwhelmed with emotion.
This is CDawgVA: Connor is a Welsh voice actor and YouTuber. He became famous with content about anime and cosplay, and now he lives in Tokyo and is part of the popular “Trash Taste” podcast, which has hosted guests like Jacksepticeye and LilyPichu .
On YouTube, Connor has 3.82 million subscribers spread over several channels, and the “Trash Taste” podcast regularly attracts over 1 million viewers. Now he has made headlines with a charitable event.
Streamers and influencers often make headlines due to scandals, but sometimes there are also beautiful moments, like this adorable clip:
YouTuber raises over €300,000 for immune diseases
This is what Connor accomplished: Together with fellow YouTuber Chris “Abroad in Japan” Broad, CDawg once cycled across the Japanese island of Hokkaido. They covered a distance of over 800 kilometers in total.
The entire “Cyclethon” was streamed starting August 29 on Connor’s Twitch channel, where an average of over 16,000 people followed the event. To cap off the bike tour on September 5, over 30,000 people tuned in (via sullygnome).
This clip shows Connor and Chris reaching their destination, a train station in southern Hokkaido. The video has already received over 80,000 views.
The fundraising effort was a great success: On Twitter, Connor announced the end of the “Cyclethon” and shared how much money was raised through the effort. The target of $250,000 was far exceeded.
In total, Connor and Chris were able to raise $316,469.69, almost €320,000, for the Immune Deficiency Foundation. According to their own statements, the foundation improves the diagnostics, treatment, and quality of life for people with primary immune deficiencies (via Twitter).
Vtuber with an immune disease cries tears of joy on stream
This is the streamer in question: The streamer ironmouse is a so-called Vtuber. This stands for Virtual YouTuber, meaning that she does not appear personally in her streams. Instead, she uses a computer-generated avatar that mimics her facial expressions and gestures.
Like many VTubers, ironmouse presents herself as a cute anime girl and has achieved great success: On Twitch, she has 1.3 million followers, and her streams attract nearly 10,000 viewers on average. After Hololive’s Gawr Gura, she is the second most successful Vtuber worldwide (via sullygnome, sportskeeda).
This is the emotional stream: Generally, ironmouse, who appears as a pink-haired demon girl, is known for her cheeky and lively personality. However, in a stream on September 5, ironmouse was overwhelmed by her emotions.
Together with her viewers, she watched the final stage of Connor’s and Chris’s bike tour and delivered an emotional speech at the end. She thanked the YouTubers for their fundraising efforts and expressed her gratitude to everyone who supported the event or donated money.
Her emotions were clearly visible. ironmouse kept sobbing and sniffling as she expressed her heartfelt thanks.
Honestly, it means a lot to me that Connor is doing this. When he told me he was doing this, I cried so much. I cried a lot because it was such a surprise that someone would go through so much trouble to do something so incredible and selfless, so taxing on the body. All for a good cause that hardly anyone knows about. So thank you. Thank you Connor for doing this.
ironmouse via Twitch
This is the background of the emotional clip: ironmouse suffers from CVID, a “common variable immune deficiency,” and a lung disease. This has rendered her mostly bedridden and dependent on oxygen. The illness also ended her dream of becoming an opera singer.
These diseases are also the reason for the distinctive high voice of the streamer. ironmouse has personal experience with the foundation for which Connor and Chris raised the money: the IDF was there for her when she had great fears and didn’t know what was wrong with her.
The community is also moved: Clips from Connor’s “Cyclethon” and ironmouse’s reaction spread on social media. People expressed their emotions about the friendship between the two streamers and admired Chris and Connor for their dedication.
“A completely normal day for Connor, selfless as usual. A true Gigachad.” That’s one way to put it (via YouTube).
What do you think of the event? Did you perhaps follow it yourself? Do you think streamers and YouTubers should increasingly use their reach for good causes, or stick to gaming instead? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion.
Other streamers have also impressed their viewers with charitable actions. The YouTube group PietSmiet organizes an annual charity event with well-known streamer Gronkh.
