Stephen Sutton is a remarkable young man. Born in 1994 in the English Midlands, he should still have years of life ahead. But he hasn't. He knows that death is just around the corner for him because life's croupier dealt him a rotten hand in the form of colorectal cancer. All medical interventions possible have been tried but death's shadow will not leave him. He is most certainly going to die young.
Rather than succumbing to feelings of self-pity, Stephen has bounced in the opposite direction, living his life in overdrive. He has ticked off a good number of experiences from his "things to do before I die" bucket list -including skydiving, writing a book, drumming at a big concert, crowd surfing in an inflatable boat, busking etc.. But perhaps his biggest target of all was to raise a million pounds for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Incredibly, that huge target has easily been surpassed and he is now well on the way to raising three million pounds!
Stingy old sod that I am, even I have donated to Stephen's appeal and you may wish to do the same by going to his Just Giving page. You may also like to view "Stephen's Story":-
A courageous young man...many others, much fitter than he is, should take a leaf or two out of his book...his book of life.
ReplyDeleteHear, hear Lee.
DeleteI can't remember exactly where and when, but I have heard/read (?) about Stephen Sutton only last week and was quite impressed. Sutton is probably a very common surname, but I still wonder if he is related to my Yorkhsire family. My mother-in-law's maiden name is Sutton.
ReplyDeleteNobody really knows how they will react if confronted with a terminal diagnose like his, but I do like to think that I'd not crumple (at least not for long) and hide in a black hole, either.
You're right Arian - none of us can predict how we would react when the going gets so very tough. And you're also right that Sutton is indeed a fairly common name in England.
DeleteThanks for pointing me onto his page. His sort of courage deserves all the acknowledgement it can get.
ReplyDeleteR.I.P Stephen xxx
ReplyDeleteHe was inspirational.
ReplyDelete