Stephen Sutton sadly passed away in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The incredibly brave and inspirational teenager who raised millions for charity during his battle with cancer, finally lost the fight just three days after being re-admitted to hospital. His mum wrote on his Facebook page, called Stephen's story, to share the heartbreaking news.
"My heart is bursting with pride but breaking with pain for my courageous, selfless, inspirational son who passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of this morning, Wednesday 14th May," wrote the 19-year-old's mother. "The ongoing support and outpouring of love for Stephen will help greatly at this difficult time, in the same way as it helped Stephen throughout his journey. We all know he will never be forgotten, his spirit will live on, in all that he achieved and shared with so many. "She signed off, "Love, His mom x".
Just 18 hours before, Stephen's family had written a message on the social media site to say that the teenager, whose condition had recently improved, had taken a bad turn. Writing that his condition had deteriorated and that Stephen could no longer communicate through the page himself, they explained that, "Unfortunately the breathlessness which had him re-admitted to hospital is due to the regrowth of tumours. "Celebrities including Ricky Gervais and Edith Bowman, as well as Prime Minister David Cameron who has met Stephen, shared their sadness at his passing.
Stephen was diagnosed with cancer in 2010 but in 2012 was told it was incurable. He made a bucket list which included crowd surfing in a dinghy and playing the drums at a Wembley Cup Final, but he also aimed to raise £10,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust. After raising that total, he upped the goal to £1million and comedian Jason Manford pledged his support by donating £10,000 and asking his Twitter followers to donate.
The online response exploded and other celebrities such as Piers Morgan, John Bishop and Clare Balding pledged their support and donated to the cause. Prime Minister David Cameron took to Twitter to express his sadness over Stephen's tragic death.