Efforts of 19-year-old Stephen Sutton with inoperable cancer lead to almost 2,00,000 people donating to Teenage Cancer Trust. The donations, many of them, came in small sums. But there have been so many — with almost 2,00,000 people inspired to give by Stephen Sutton’s story — that by last night the total he had raised had passed £ 2.3 million, and was rising fast. The Teenage Cancer Trust said the donations would revolutionise its ability to work with similarly ill young people.
Mr. Sutton from Burntwood, Staffordshire was diagnosed four years ago with bowel cancer, which has now spread to be inoperable. His condition turned critical this week when one of his lungs collapsed. He remains in a Birmingham hospital.
In January last year he had set himself the goal of raising £ 10,000. On Friday, Kate Collins, director of fundraising for the Teenage Cancer Trust, a relatively small organisation that runs 27 specialist medical units around Britain as well as offering family support and health education, said his efforts had already dwarfed any previous donations, the biggest of which was a £ 1million bequest in a will.
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Mr. Sutton’s story has been a chronicle of the remarkable focus and courage of one young individual, and a wider illustration of how social media can broadcast such bravery to a huge audience.
— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2014