Beloved Streamer Passes: Modern Medical Racism

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at TX State chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

On Sept. 17th beloved YouTube personality La’tayvia Deshay Ransom, better known as Tayta Games, passed away from colon cancer. “My oldest daughter passed this morning. My baby had colon cancer that spread to her liver.” Her father confirmed her death in a Facebook post explaining the cancer had spread from her colon to her liver, passing away days before her 22nd birthday. She was best known for her comedic commentary and lively gameplays, gaining over a million followers across platforms. 

Tayta was a well known content creator across Tiktok, Instagram and Youtube. The majority  of her following came from short clips of her videos, specifically her reactions to popular games. Being a young, black woman in the gaming community was uncommon, but she was a beacon of community for other black women who game and create content.  My own first interaction with Tayta was years ago in her Minecraft  gameplays and expressing how she would be “vegan” in game and then continue to eat meat. She was a different personality in the gamer space, a refreshing comedic commentator that I was happy to see.

“Too Young” for Cancer

Over the course of the past year La’tayvia shared her journey with her viewers, at first being told the pain she was experiencing was period cramps and hemorrhoids. Her primary doctor continued to brush off her symptoms, unfortunately leading it to take her five months to get a colonoscopy. “They kept saying ‘you don’t have to worry, I know it’s not cancer, you’re too young to have cancer’ If I was money hungry I would have sued.” Tayta said in a video from Oct. 2024. When they finally diagnosed her she was stage four of colon cancer.  

Black Women Mistreated in Medicinal Cases

Being misdiagnosed for five months due to her doctors not taking her symptoms seriously was the most direct cause of her passing, and a common case of doctors not believing women. After waiting too long for a colonoscopy to get a diagnosis the cancer was too mutated. When she was first diagnosed, Tayta attempted to take a holistic route because of her beliefs, as well as not wanting her family to have to deal with the medical debt of chemotherapy. But as her condition worsened she finally decided to try the chemo treatment, however it was too late. Had her complaints been taken as seriously as they were, the cancer would have been caught much sooner. “I wish it was a prank,” La’tayvia’s brother said on her Tiktok. “She’s supposed to be right here with us.” 

Tayta’s passing was the result of medical misogynoir. The dismissive attitude from her doctors was one of many cases of malpractices affecting women, but more specifically black women. Misogynoir is the specific oppression and prejudice of black women face because of misogyny and anti-black racism. The concept of misogynoir is relevant because of the old belief from some physicians believing black women have a higher pain threshold. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences report some reasons why these issues occur. “The first possibility is that physicians recognize black patients’ pain, but do not treat it, perhaps due to concerns about noncompliance or access to health care. The second possibility is that physicians do not recognize black patients’ pain in the first place, and thus cannot treat it.”  Making room for medical neglect and mistreatment for black women.

One Woman’s Lasting Impact

The morning I woke up to the news I cried because she was unlike so many content creators that make up the gaming community, I could feel her authenticity as a genuine beautiful soul. Tayta’s brothers posted a tribute for her, for her fans, leaving thousands of comments mourning and celebrating a young woman’s life taken so soon. “It’s so hard finding black women as representation in gaming” One commenter left. “She truly felt like a friend, this deeply hurts.”