Dying teen Stephen Sutton’s fundraising #ThumbsUpForStephen selfie campaign has continued to kick on as his total soared past the £2million mark.
The Teenage Cancer Trust charity campaign, which has received a star-studded boost since comedian Jason Manford spread the word on Monday, now stands at £2,102,277.80 – a staggering doubling of Stephen’s original one million pound target.
And the Salford funny man spent an hour with the youngster, 19, in a Birmingham hospital yesterday after enlisting the help of the likes of Steve Coogan, Russell Brand and Chris Hoy to help him reach his target before he passes away.
“Had a lovely hour with him before visiting some of the other teenagers on the brilliant Teenage Cancer Trust Ward,” said Manford on Facebook after the visit.
“He is genuinely an amazing person to talk to, very inspiring and he can’t believe how much money we have all raised in his name for other people.
“His family are just as cracking and I’m so glad, although his cancer is terminal, that they’re getting to spend some more time with him.”
Amazing @_StephensStory is up & chatting after his brush with death. He’s so happy that we are close to £2million! https://t.co/guWz2xt3qh
— JasonManford (@JasonManford) April 24, 2014
Stephen, who has been battling cancer for three years, also updated his Facebook page yesterday to thank everyone who backed his campaign for their support: “Hi everyone, it’s Stephen here – still here and still fighting!!! Throughout the whole journey I’ve been realistic about my position and at my last post I genuinely thought I was a goner…. But hey, I’m still here!!
“Sunday morning my right lung collapsed: I had a full emergency team surrounding me and in all honesty was probably not too far from nearly leaving you all. I survived, but the following day I woke up and felt very weak – the worry was that whatever was left of my health would just continue to deteriorate.
“However, from that point on my recovery has been positive and quite unexpected. One doctor while seeing me even said how my medical notes and how I was actually doing didn’t quite seem to match up. The progress since has continued to be good but steady.
“I am still in a very vulnerable position. I am very limited in what I can do and am still permanently hooked up to oxygen. But I am in high spirits and blessed to have so much love and support around me. To get to see the million pound fundraising target being reached was just phenomenal!
“The plan is to take things day by day. Just keep on keeping on like I always have. I will try and update when I can, but my health and staying alive is obviously my main priority at the moment aha. The battle is physically and mentally very demanding, but I am happy – and that’s the main thing!”
