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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).
Stephen's Story / TwitterBut seriously... Wow. Just wow. Thank you all so much :)
— Stephen's Story (@_StephensStory) April 23, 2014
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”.
Stephen's Story / TwitterThe world is a truly wonderful place
— Stephen's Story (@_StephensStory) April 22, 2014
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Respect.
Inspirational
Hard to read. I’m positive everyone in Ireland would send this young lad their best wishes and would agree that his strength and words of wisdom are an inspiration.
What a courageous and brave young man.
Stephen Sutton_ You Sir are a horse and cart of a man..Fair balls to you man!!!
Stephen, your an inspiration to us man.
I wish you peace and comfort.
Amazing kid, fair play to him and he has made a huge difference.
Great respect.
Superman wears Stephen Sutton pyjamas .
Here here. XX
A true selfless and a very brave young man.
Courageous and articulate lad! Too bad the hand life has dealt him. He could have achieved so much in time with that attitude, intelligence and strength. A true role model, not just to his age group, but to us all.
Well done young man!
Amazing Guy.. disappointed in thejournal for not linking to the fundraising page – other news websites did! (http://www.justgiving.com/Stephen-Sutton-TCT/eurl.axd/f3b8e2b8d324834eb9813df16d168837)
The link is indeed in the piece, Byyys. It’s in the paragraph about how the target has been reached, which begins with the words “The £1 million target was…”. Would have been a bit mean-spirited not to include it.
Oh what a brave guy. May all you dreams come true. What a inspiration :-)
True inspiration.
What a brave young soul….
Think I have something in my eye
Well done
What a great guy!
Awesome I have to say.
From near my home town, an inspiration! Tragic
Respect total respect. ..very sad so young and having to go through this… I really really hope there is something after death and it will make his pain worthwhile.
Your mother must be broken hearted and proud as punch! What a brave young man. Where do you get your courage from?
May you continue to shine young man xxx
Hope and pray for a miracle. Xxx. So much respect for you. Xxx.
Absolutely love your funny and amazing things post. So positive and uplifting!
I should have expanded more. I saw a post on Facebook about funny and amazing stories and thought it was brilliant. I then looked a little bit deeper into the origin of creator and was astounded to what I found. Bringing laughter spontaneous on my behalf and light into my world of a lot of darkness. You truly are an inspiration to me and I’m sure lots of others. Thank you !
To all the red thumbers, walk a mile in Stephens shoes,respect to him and his family. He has shown true courage and strength in the face of adversity.
When I read this story I cant stop thinking of so many people his age taking things for granted, not material things, but life itself by doing things like drink driving, abusing of alcohol n drugs, commiting crike following stupidity of necknomination etc. Looking at this lad doing so much in the little time he got left thinking of all other wonders he will miss and then you read some youth attacked someone in the dart or stealing from elders or you see them trying to shoplift etc etc I wish I had a photo and story of Stephen and say ” get inspired, learn, respect and work hard for the real simple and legal joys of life. You are wasting you life”
But that seem like dream.
With tears in my eyes I send you and yours my best wishes. You have made such a difference and others will benefit from your fearlessness. Well done you.
As a friend of mine would say. ” you can do it Boy”. God love you for your bravery and kindness in helping others. God bless and give strength to your Family and Friends. Sending you lots of love. XX
Exceptional man. You look at this person and really see what’s best in the world. Then you have the pointless celebrity socialite who thinks the world revolves around them. They don’t deserve fame or recognition. This man truly does.
Respect
No words..
Have followed his story the last few days with great sadness. What a special inspirational young man. Credit must also be given to Jason Manford the comedian who had helped since yesterday to create awareness of this story and helped bump the fundraising up by promoting it and speaking so highly of Stephen. Bless Stephen.
We’ll done Stephen very brave young man
Cannot understand anyone who would red thumb any of the comments here – unless they are just idiots who red thumb anything referring to anyone English at all whatever their circumstances? I dunno. Cowards all of them. Stephen is an inspiration and he’s from my home town – we are all very proud of him. I’ve donated.
I cannot understand what type of person, has used the red thumb,having read the article.
Stephen, Your a better man than I.
Fabulous kid, god mind him.
Stephen you are a wonderful person.
What an eloquent, generous young man. Feeling humbled.
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