How A Medical Emergency Put Markiplier's Career In Gear

Mark Edward Fischbach, a.k.a. Markiplier, is a beloved member of YouTube's stable of content creators. Markiplier gained fame for his chaotic-fun Let's Play videos and his collaborations with friends like PewDiePie. Over time, his productions have become more elaborate as he's forged a strong bond with his audience and good relationships with other streamers in the biz. However, there was a time before all the fame, when Markiplier wasn't sure of the direction he wanted his life to take. In fact, the YouTuber recently detailed how a frightening health problem led him to begin his empire all those years ago.

During a new episode of Logan Paul's "Impaulsive" podcast, Markiplier sat down with Paul and his crew to talk about all things YouTube. Some of the topics up for discussion included saying goodbye to Markiplier's "Unus Annus" channel and the addictive nature of "World of Warcraft." However, possibly the most poignant moments of the conversation arrived when Markiplier opened up about the medical issue that ultimately convinced him to dive headfirst into YouTube content creation. 

As Markiplier explained, he found himself at a crossroads following the death of his father when Mark was 18 years old. In those days, Markiplier said, he felt angry all the time, be it with school or his personal life in general. And after his father passed away, Markiplier had a health scare of his own to contend with, which ended up causing him to reevaluate everything about his life.

During the "Impaulsive" interview, Markiplier described the thoughts that ran through his head when he discovered he had a tumor. Unfortunately, all of the righteous fury in the world ended up feeling useless at the time. 

"I had a tumor in my adrenal gland, and all of this rage did me nothing ... absolutely nothing, helped in no way," said Markiplier. He then continued, "And I remember being on a table for a CAT scan, I was getting a biopsy ... and I said, 'Oh my god, this is real. This, uh, this ain't a joke." Luckily for Markiplier and his legions of adoring fans, the tumor turned out to not be cancerous, and he was able to have it safely removed. However, this frightening experience led to a few realizations for Markiplier.

"I was in the hospital and I was like, 'Holy s***, I have done nothing to control the course of my life," said Markiplier. "I have done absolutely nothing." According to Markiplier, this is when he decided to start making videos on the internet, which eventually catapulted him to stardom. He explained, "I was in my fourth year of engineering school and I was like, I need to do something that I actually appreciate and I enjoy and that's when I started doing YouTube." With only two semesters to go, Markiplier made the decision to drop out of college and pursue his YouTube dreams.

It's safe to say that Markiplier's life might have gone a completely different direction had he not dealt with that tumor all those years ago. However, as he got into on the "Impaulsive" podcast, this was far from his last upsetting health emergency.

Towards the end of the podcast, Logan Paul wondered what Markiplier gets up to in his off hours, specifically asking the YouTuber whether or not he drinks alcohol or smokes marijuana. Markiplier explained that he doesn't particularly enjoy the effects of marijuana, and that he cannot drink at all. Markiplier has described this issue on a few occasions in the past, including during a Wired interview and a video in which he read comments from his fans. But as Markiplier told the "Impaulsive" crew, his body's inability to properly process alcohol caused him to experience a heart attack the last time he decided to partake in drinking.

This stoy shocked the podcast hosts, who stared slack-jawed while Markiplier described the night he was rushed to the hospital after passing out during a friendly get-together. Markiplier had only had a few beers that night, which he explained caused a magnesium deficiency and ultimately led to two separate heart attacks. Since then, Markiplier has sworn off drinking.

Despite his numerous health issues over the years — not to mention some unbelievable injuries — Markiplier has continued going strong. His interactive film, "In Space with Markiplier," was a smash success earlier this year, and the 33-year-old content creator rakes in around $38 million a year from YouTube. If anything, his comments on "Impaulsive" seem to show that he's made a habit of listening to his body and planning accordingly.