Many will be saddened to hear that Stephen Sutton has died age 19. When he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he made a "bucket list" which included raising £10,000 for a charity helping teenage cancer patients like himself. As of earlier today, he had raised £3.2 million (> US$5.3 million). His mother made his final Facebook entry for him:
My heart is bursting with pride but breaking with pain for my courageous, selfless, inspirational son who passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of this morning, Wednesday 14th May. The ongoing support and outpouring of love for Stephen will help greatly at this difficult time, in the same way as it helped Stephen throughout his journey. We all know he will never be forgotten, his spirit will live on, in all that he achieved and shared with so many.
Love,
His mom x
The media in the UK is giving the news headline coverage. The
BBC report:
The Facebook post announcing Stephen's death was shared more than 120,000 times within an hour of its publication.
Donations to his online fundraising page, set up in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, began to climb once again as the news of the teenager's death spread.
Justgiving, which hosts Stephen's online fundraising page, said its engineers had to "work quickly" to boost server capacity after a sharp increase in visitors to the site.
It said the campaign total had risen by about £60,000 in just over two hours.
Stephen's was a short life but a life well lived. The word "inspiration" keeps cropping up in the tributes which have included one from the Prime Minister who had met Stephen. In that bitter sweet moment, I cannot but help wonder whether he would have been able to achieve that in the USA or would his family have been desperately fundraising to pay for his medical care? Instead they have the comfort of his legacy for others.