Terminally unwell teenager "still fighting" as he smashes £2m fundraising target

Stephen Sutton wrote ‘to get to see the million pound target was phenomenal!’ – he has now raised more than £2m.

A teenager who is terminally unwell with cancer has raised a lot more than £2m for charity in an on the web campaign, smashing his £10,000 fundraising target.

Stephen Sutton stated he was “nonetheless fighting” as donations from the public for his Teenage Cancer Trust appeal carry on to flood in.

The 19-12 months-old, who has drawn up a bucket listing of things to do ahead of he dies, has been backed by celebrities including Simon Pegg, Steve Coogan and James Nesbitt.

Sutton, from Burntwood, Staffordshire, mentioned he imagined he was a goner a few days in the past when he suffered a collapsed lung, writing on his Facebook webpage that despite pondering he did not have lengthy to live, he had made regular progress because.

“Hi everyone, it’s Stephen here – still here and even now fighting!,” he wrote. “Throughout the complete journey I’ve been sensible about my place and at my last publish I genuinely thought I was a goner … But hey, I’m still right here!!

“Sunday morning my right lung collapsed: I had a complete emergency team surrounding me and in all honesty was almost certainly not also far from almost leaving you all …

“The progress considering that has continued to be good but regular. I am even now in a very vulnerable position. I am quite constrained in what I can do and am nonetheless permanently hooked up to oxygen.

“But I am in high spirits and blessed to have so significantly love and support close to me. To get to see the million pound fundraising target currently being reached was just phenomenal!”

Sutton extra that he planned to take issues day by day “but I am pleased – and that is the primary thing”.

A host of celebrities have taken to Twitter to help the result in, posing for photos and holding indicators urging the public to donate.

The teenager was diagnosed with bowel cancer when he was 15. Despite surgical procedure, the aggressive cancer spread and, after more treatment method and operations, doctors concluded it was incurable.

Alongside the fundraising campaign, Sutton made the decision to set up a bucket list of 46 things to do prior to his death. It integrated hugging an elephant, crowd-surfing in a rubber dinghy, playing the drums at a Wembley cup ultimate, acquiring a tattoo and appearing on BBC drama Physicians.

Sutton’s fundraising drive is becoming backed by the comedian Jason Manford, who mentioned he had previously met the teenager at charity gigs. Appearing on ITV’s Daybreak, Manford mentioned he and other individuals have been inspired to get concerned by the teenager’s optimistic mindset as he strove to make the greatest of his circumstance.

He explained: “That is what acquired their imaginations going genuinely. It was that he just had such joy for daily life. He wasn’t bitter about leaving the get together early, he was just pleased that he was ever invited at all. He’s 19, which is no age at all.

“There is so many things he is not going to be able to do, but there’s anything he said on his Facebook webpage and on his web site – he mentioned that lifestyle should not be measured in time, it should be measured in achievements you have accomplished and I thought ‘this guy’s 19′, and it genuinely received to me.”

Sutton set up his charity fundraising web site and weblog on Facebook in January last yr to keep men and women up to date with his progress.

On Tuesday he wrote that his problem had worsened, including “regrettably I have not received much time left”. Thanking family, pals and fundraisers, he mentioned: “Which is it from me. But existence has been very good. Really excellent.”

Siobhan Dunn, chief executive of the Teenage Cancer Believe in, praised the inspiring teenager and ambassador for the charity.

She mentioned: “I have had the privilege of meeting him and his positivity is usually remembered by all that meet him or hear him communicate. Stephen is generating the biggest attainable variation to Teenage Cancer Trust and the youthful folks who want our assist.

“We’re a comparatively small charity and Stephen has inspired his loved ones, buddies and communities up and down the country to raise above £1,300,000 and it really is still climbing. This is a impressive sum which will assist us assistance numerous far more younger men and women with cancer.”

Speaking previously, Sutton stated he disliked the term “dying from my cancer – I am living with my cancer, in spite of it being there”.

Manford tweeted a image of himself going to Sutton in hospital on Thursday afternoon. He wrote on Twitter: “Remarkable @_StephensStory is up &amp chatting soon after his brush with death. He is so satisfied that we are close to £2million!”

Terminally unwell teenager "still fighting" as he smashes £2m fundraising target