TheGreatDavidR YouTuber from Newport raising money for the NHS

David Romanowski, 14, shoots weekly videos where he films himself “unpacking” FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) cards – and his most watched video has more than five million views.

FUT lets video gamers build football teams using players from across leagues to compete against each other online - the more games you win, the more coins you get which means you can buy individual player or roll the dice on player packs.

“I started doing YouTube about six years ago,” David, who goes to Newport High School says.

“I did an unboxing video (where you film yourself opening a package, in this case football boots) and it got about 300,000 views.

“It just kept going up. The second one I did was two million and the next one was five million.”

It means that when the family are abroad, David is sometimes recognised in the street.

“Random kids just meet you on the street, it is unbelievable," he said. “In France, a bunch of kids came up to me and in Menorca, too.”

(David during shooting for a one-off Nike commercial.)

With a sizeable following, David earns advertising revenue on his videos.

That is where his dad, Pawel Romanowski, from Poland, steps in.

“I manage the finances, but whatever he earns, he invests back into his videos – buying the gear, cameras, microphones, software and the PC all costs quite a lot of money," said Mr Romanowski.

“If he wants to buy points for FUT to film videos, he can. The other day he spent £150 on FIFA points.

“It is all being invested back into making content.”

And Mr Romanowski, who graduated from what is now known as the University of South Wales in Newport, ensures his son strikes a healthy balance between schoolwork and YouTube.

“You have to get the balance with school, he still needs the results,” he said.

“If he gets the results he can continue, it’s like a weekly reward: one or two videos a week maximum.”

(David has 126,000 YouTube subscribers.)

Being in school can be a little strange for David, however.

“Even the teachers know I have a YouTube account," he said. “They say they can’t believe I am teaching a child with over 100,000 subscribers.

“I just don’t really know what to say after that.

“My mates always say it’s weird that they know a YouTuber, too.”

Now David is looking to recruit the help of his subscribers to raise money for the NHS.

Last week, he filmed himself learning 24 skills in 24 hours.

Ranging from learning to shuffle and juggle, to experimenting with the new football tricks, David said it was a “fun” way to give back.

(He supports Arsenal, but will often watch Newport County play.)

He was inspired to do so not only by another fundraising initiatives across the UK, but because he was personally helped by the NHS when he was six years old.

“When I was younger I was hit by car, and the NHS really helped so I just want to give back,” he said.

His dad added: “He was on his bike when hit by a car and it went straight into him – David flew.

“The doctor said his helmet saved his life.

“But the response from the services was unbelievable.

“The ambulances came straight away. It was so quick, within a minute or two.”

David spent a few days in hospital, fortunately escaping without any serious injuries.

“But if the response wasn’t that quick in the first place, you never know what could have happened,” Mr Romanowski said.

David has a fundraising page set up, which you can view here.

He wants to raise enough money to buy 1,500 certified face masks for the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.

And all the advertising revenue that David brings in from his videos this month will also go towards the NHS.