Daniel Coleman, the popular children’s YouTuber better known as Danny Go!, announced Friday that his 14-year-old son died, five months after being diagnosed with cancer.
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“There’s so much I want to say, but I don’t know how yet. I already miss you so much, and the pain in my heart is far more than I can process,” Coleman wrote in a heartfelt tribute posted on Instagram. “Being your dad was the honor of a lifetime. I’m so proud of you and I love you forever. Rest peacefully, son.”
According to the post, his son died Thursday.
The boy, Isaac Daniel Coleman, was born with a rare genetic disorder called Fanconi’s anemia. According to the Fanconi Cancer Foundation, the disease impairs the body’s ability to repair DNA, leaving patients at very high risk of developing bone marrow failure and cancer.
Before age 11, Isaac had already endured kidney and bone marrow transplants, Coleman told WCNC, NBC’s affiliate in Charlotte, in 2023.
In December, Coleman announced Isaac was diagnosed with cancer in his mouth. Isaac then underwent an eight-hour surgery to remove the tumor, Coleman said in an Instagram post on Jan. 11.
In February, Coleman posted a post-surgery update informing followers that Isaac had been diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. Even though the visible cancer tumor was removed, “there’s a very high chance that it’s still present microscopically,” Coleman said, “because of the speed and aggression of the spread.”
After that, Coleman canceled his 2026 live show tour to care for his son.
Last month, Coleman posted what would be his final update on Isaac’s treatment.
“It’s still difficult for me to process and talk about. But the high-level update is that his cancer has continued to spread aggressively and his energy levels have dropped very low,” Coleman wrote on Instagram on April 23. “He has a hospice team onboard now to help manage the pain & we are just doing our best to make each day as enjoyable and restful as possible for him.”
Isaac was born on Oct. 3, 2011 in Huntersville, North Carolina, weighing just over 3 pounds. Shortly after birth, he underwent surgeries for a brain shunt and a colostomy — the first of many, WCNC reported in 2015, at which time Isaac was awaiting a bone marrow transplant at just 3 years old.
Coleman began his now famous Danny Go! YouTube channel in 2019, creating instructive music videos to get kids dancing and moving. His following grew substantially over the years, accumulating more than 4 million YouTube subscribers and millions of views per day. Coleman used that platform to advocate for organ donation and encourage people to join bone marrow registries.
“Your 14 years were full of so many challenges, but you met them all with such grit…and you somehow kept your trademark joy in spite of it all. You truly had a spark like no other, Isaac!,” Coleman wrote on his tribute post on Friday. “Remembering how loved you were and how full of life your time here was gives me great comfort.”
Coleman and his wife, Mindy, are also parents to a younger son Levi, age 10.
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