An Uplifting Legacy

Written by Justin Deimen.

When he was 15, Stephen learnt that his colorectal cancer had advanced to stage 3B and was incurable. The British teenager refused to let that stop him from living a full and inspiring life. In the age of selfies and snap-chats, when teenagers are seen to be increasingly self-entitled and self-obsessed, Stephen has demonstrated that even with a limited life-span, he could face the world with immense courage, exceptional class, and understated intelligence. Faced with a death sentence, Stephen endeavored to save as many lives as possible through his Facebook page ‘Stephen’s Story’ where he first outlined his bucket list of 46 things he wanted to achieve before his death. The first item on the list was to raise £10,000 for The Teenage Cancer Trust.

Except Stephen didn't just raise £10,000, he raised over £4m, more than any previous contribution to the trust. He said: "Originally, all I ever wanted to do was study hard and make a difference to the world by becoming a doctor. However, in light of my current circumstances, I have decided to be more pragmatic with my time. I'm stuck in this position with loads and loads of motivation but potentially not very much time. But I see lots of people out there that have time. What I can try to do is give them a bit of my motivation, to go out there and achieve something – enjoy life."

He added: “I haven’t asked how long I’ve got left because I don’t see the point in measuring the worthiness of your life in terms of time, but rather you should measure in terms of what you achieve. So my goal is to achieve as much as possible with however long I have left, while still remaining a normal teenager trying to enjoy things."
 
In the past four years since Stephen began fulfilling his bucket list, he had become known as a remarkably effective teenage cancer fundraiser. Celebrities like Simon Pegg, Ricky Gervais, Steve Coogan, and Benedict Cumberbatch partnered with him to spread the word and even the Prime Minister tweeted the donation link to his followers. One of the items on Sutton’s bucket list was to speak publicly about his illness and his hopes to change the world.