A TEENAGER WITH terminal cancer has fulfilled one of the final items on his bucket list after he raised £1 million for charity.
Stephen Sutton, a 19-year-old from Staffordshire in England, had set himself the goal to raise the money after he was diagnosed with cancer.
The teenager launched an inspirational fundraising campaign to encourage people to make the most of life when the aggressive cancer spread to other parts of his body and doctors told him that it was incurable.
However his cause became more urgent after he was hospitalised on Sunday.
On Monday, he wrote on his Facebook page that he hoped his life had served some purpose.
“Unfortunately I haven’t got much time left, but I just want to reiterate to you all what a great time I’ve had recently,” he wrote from his hospital bed. “I don’t really want to die, but hopefully my journey has influenced a lot of people for the better and taught people not to take life for granted”.
The following day he wrote that he had “done well to blag things as well as I have up till now, but unfortunately I think this is just one hurdle too far”.
As a result of his posts on Facebook and Twitter, momentum began to build as his followers encouraged people to donate money to reach the £1 million goal for the Teenage Cancer Trust, a British charity which works with young cancer patients.
Almost £500,000 was raised in the past 24 hours alone.
The £1 million target was reached earlier today, with the current total standing at just over £1.4 million (€1.7 million).
As well as raising the money, some of the completed items on Stephen’s bucket list included getting a tattoo, appearing as an extra in a film or music video, skydiving for charity, and drumming in front of a huge crowd.
In his most recent Facebook post, Stephen wrote: “I will continue fighting for as long as I can, and whatever happens next I want you all to know I am currently in a good place mentally and at east with the situation”.
That’s it from me. But life has been good. Very good.
“Thank you to my mum and the rest of my family for everything. Thank you to my friends for being amazing. Thank you to my medical team for the hard work and effort they’ve continually put towards me. And thank you everyone else for sharing this wonderful journey with me”.
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