Health update for Youtuber, age 34, as he has strokes after suffering a traumatic brain injury in car accident

Influencer Andrew Cross, who is known as 'Desert Drifter' on YouTube, was seriously injured in a car accident on the night of Friday January 31.

The 34-year-old social media star, who is a desert adventurer and former Grand Canyon tour guide, sustained a severe traumatic brain injury in the accident. He was rushed to hospital and immediately given brain surgery to bring a bleed on his brain under control. He is now in intensive care, but is in a stable condition.

On a Caring Bridge page which has been set up to update Cross’ friends and fans on his condition, Cross’ wife Evelyn revealed on Thursday (February 6): “This morning his CT showed an increase of blood in that left side of his brain as well as a number of small strokes. We still do not know the impact or extent of these.”

On Friday (February 7), a family friend called Taylor Brennan then gave a sad update. They said: “The strokes have not gotten worse but they have confirmed they are quite large and are located in important areas for speech, language, and movement for the right side of the body. They want to do an MRI to confirm more but are holding off at this time as stabilization of Andrew’s vitals are the main focus.”

This morning, Sunday February 9, another family friend called Becca Skur said that Andrew was “more stable” and doctors hoped to be able to perform an MRI scan to further assess extent of the strokes tomorrow (Monday February 10) or in the coming days.

She added: “The emotional toll is wearing on Evelyn & loved ones. . . As time goes on we believe that there is a time to be hopeful and a time to grieve. We believe that the time to grieve is not yet and that we still have the invitation to hope & believe for a miracle.”

Cross, who set up his Youtube channel in 2023 and has 400,000 followers, was on his way back from filming a video at Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, when he was involved in the car accident. The precise circumstances of the incident are not clear at this time.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by family friend Hannah Schweitzer to help Cross’ family pay for his medical expenses. At the time of writing, on the morning of Sunday February 9, more than $274,000 (around £220,000) has been raised.

Writing on the page yesterday (Saturday February 8) Schweitzer expressed her thanks to everyone who has donated. She said: “We cannot begin to express our gratitude for all of your generosity towards Evelyn and Andrew. Thank you so so much. The road forward continues to be unmarked and unpredictable.”

There have been many more messages of support written on the page. One person said: “You all are in our thoughts. The road ahead may be hard, but you will all have each other.” Another said: “My loving prayers join others' around the world for Andrew's full recovery. His and Evelyn's life of grace and generosity benefit all of Life.”

A third person wrote: “I'm praying for a full recovery of Andrew and also for the entire family during this difficult time. I'm a relatively new subscriber to the channel and your adventures have become some of my favourite content to watch.”