Stephen Sutton makes 'largest' cancer charity donation

A teenager with terminal cancer has raised more than £2m for charity.

Stephen Sutton, 19, from Burntwood in Staffordshire, was diagnosed with bowel cancer aged 15 and started raising funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

He posted what he said would be his final blog entry on Tuesday, prompting hundreds of donations.

A Teenage Cancer Trust spokeswoman said it was the charity's largest ever single donation and said staff were "overwhelmed" by his efforts.

'Vulnerable position'

Posting on Facebook on Thursday, Stephen said although he had been weakened by his right lung collapsing on Sunday, his recovery since had been "positive and quite unexpected".

He said: "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!!"

He initially planned to raise £10,000, but increased his target to £1m after receiving so many public donations as his fundraising campaign spread.

In his blog he said, reaching the £1m mark in donations on Wednesday was "phenomenal".

Stephen Sutton was diagnosed with cancer aged 15

He said he planned to take things day-by-day and was still in a "very vulnerable position".

Kate Collins, director of fundraising at the charity, told BBC News Mr Sutton's campaign was "hugely touching".

"It's enormous for the Teenage Cancer Trust. We're a small charity, the only charity that helps children aged between 13 and 24 years old.

"Stephen is making the most transformational difference for us. It's very hard to talk about the scale of difference his money is going to make."

Previously, the largest individual donation the charity said it had received was £500,000.

'Incredible achievements'

Despite surgery, the aggressive cancer spread to different parts of Stephen's body and after further treatment and operations, doctors concluded it was incurable.

His achievements were hailed as "incredible" by comedian Jason Manford.

He met the teenager at charity gigs and was inspired to get involved by his positive attitude.

He asked some of his celebrity friends including Chris Hoy, Simon Pegg and Sarah Millican to pose with a #ThumbsUpForStephen poster on Twitter on Wednesday.

"Stephen's Story has raised more money in the past 24 hours than I have doing gigs for the past four years for the charity," he said.

Tweeting after visiting the teenager in hospital, he said: "Amazing @_StephensStory is up & chatting after his brush with death. He's so happy that we are close to £2m."

Mr Sutton has previously said he dislikes the term "dying from my cancer - I am living with my cancer, despite it being there".

Fighting the disease, the teenager decided to set up a 'bucket list' of 46 things to do before he dies.

The list included playing the drums in front of 90,000 people, skydiving and busking.