Stephen Sutton
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About
Stephen Sutton was a British blogger and charity activist best known for his blog Stephen's Story and his fundraising efforts for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity. On May 14th, 2014, Sutton died of colorectal cancer at age of 19.
Online History
In 2010, Sutton was diagnosed with stage B3 colorectal cancer [1] at age of 15. In the following years, Sutton went through aggressive radiation and chemotherapy treatments, but by December 2012, the cancer had spread to his lungs and liver and it was deemed incurable.
The Bucket List
On January 13th, 2010, Stephen Sutton launched a Facebook page titled "Stephen's Story" to share his bucket list of 46 things he wanted to achieve in the near future, which ranged from learning how to juggle and meeting the comedian Jimmy Carr to going on a 'Lads Holidays' and crowd surfing on an inflatable boat at a concert.
1) Raise
2) Skydive for charity
3) Bungee jump for charity
4) Organize a charity party
5) Charity waxing and head shave
6) Write a book
7) Release a “tumour humour” joke book containing funny stories and anecdotes from cancer that can help others to look at the brighter side
8) Organize a charity football match
9) Do a charity hitchhike visiting every Teenage Cancer Trust unit across the country
10) Write, record and release a charity single with my old band
11) Organize a charity gig
12) Go busking!
13) Persuade local schools to have a ‘get wiggy with it’ non uniform day
14) Charity quizzes at local pubs
15) Oganize a charity ball
16) Host a charity ‘Come Dine With STE’ dinner party for friends
17) Organize and be part of a flash mob
18) Organize a gigantic game of musical chairs/pass the parcel/etc
19) Go to a carnival in Brazil.
20) Go to Wembley to see a football match
21) Go to Twickenham to see a rugby match
22) Fly somewhere first class
23) Get a tattoo
24) Drum in front of a huge crowd
25) Do some public speaking in front of a huge crowd of people
26) Go visit a famous waterfall
27) Throw a massive party for all my friends
28) Go on a ‘lads holiday’
29) Go to Australia
30) Hug an animal that is bigger than me
31) Ride a Segway
32) Go to a Skrillex concert
33) Go see a darts competition
34) Get my name into the Guinness World Book of Records somehow
35) Go to CERN in Switzerland
36) Meet Jimmy Carr
37) Go to another music festival
38) Find someone with more surgical scars than me (>47cm worth)
39) Star as an extra in a film or music video
40) Get Tim Minchin to write a song for me
41) Learn to juggle
42) Inspire someone else to become a doctor or fundraiser
43) Have my portrait drawn
44) Crowd surf in a rubber dingy at a gig
45) Try breathing in xenon or sulphur dioxid eand talking (has the opposite effect of helium)
46) Visit Machu Picchu in Peru
Teenage Cancer Trust
That same day, Sutton also launched a fundraising campaign for Teenage Cancer Trust[3], a UK-based charity that focuses on the needs of young cancer patients, with an initial goal of £10,000. Within 72 hours of launch, the page reached 1,000 likes, and by end of March that same year, Stephen's Story had received 5,000 page likes. On April 23rd 2014, the campaign reached its revised goal of £1 million, and by mid-May 2014, Sutton's campaign had raised more than £3.4 million, and over £4 million with the inclusion of Gift Aid donations
#ThumbsUpForStephen
Following Sutton's hospitalization in April 2014, British comedian Jason Manford became the unofficial spokesperson for the charity and appeared in numerous interviews to promote the cause. Manford also launched the hashtag campaign #thumbsupforStephen[4], asking people to share selfies of themselves promoting his campaign.
Discharge
After his goal was met on April 23rd 2014, he was discharged from the hospital due to improvements in his condition. During this time, he met Prime Minister David Cameron (shown below, left) and broke the record for the most number of people making heart shaped gestures (shown below, right).
Death
On the early hours of May 14th 2014, Stephen Sutton had died in his sleep from colorectal cancer at age of 19.
Prime Minister David Cameron had praised him for his "spirit and bravery", following his death, a spark of tributes spread across Twitter and Facebook.
Tragic news that Stephen Sutton has passed away. His bravery & determination to live life to the full was an inspiration to us all.
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) May 14, 2014 Search Interest
External References
[1] Wikipedia – Colorector cancer
[2] Stephen's Story – Stephen Sutton's Blog
[3] JustGiving – Stephen's fundraising page
[4] Twitter – #ThumbsupforStephen
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