When Jane Sutton walks around her home town today, yellow ribbons all around will remind her of her cancer campaigner son Stephen Sutton.
Businesses, doors, lampposts, railings and trees have been decorated to mark the 10th anniversary of Stephen’s death, just as they were when he passed away aged 19 in 2014. But rather than feel sad, his mum Jane says she will be smiling with pride.
She reveals the amount raised in his name has now climbed from £3million to an astonishing £6million. Jane, 59, says: “It’s incredible to think 10 years on, £6m has now been raised in Stephen’s name. It’s a mind-boggling amount of money.”
Jane, an accountant for the NHS, says of the ribbons tribute by locals in Burntwood, Staffs: “It’s just so heartwarming to think people are still doing this for Stephen and shows just how much he touched their lives. When I go out it’s not that I’m going to suddenly feel sad because I’m seeing that… I’ll be smiling.
Jane Sutton says she is constantly reminded of her cancer campaigner son Stephen (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)“Stephen chose to celebrate his life and for me I can only think about his death and the day that happened in the same way that Stephen thought about his life – and that’s as a celebration.” Stephen battled colon cancer for two years before he was told the condition was terminal in January 2013.
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But instead of giving up, he set up Stephen’s Story, a Facebook page about living with the illness as well as a bucket list. Along with sky-diving, a bungee jump and busking, his list of 46 things he wanted to achieve included: “Raise £10,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust.”
Using social media, with the hashtag #thumbsupforstephen, he encouraged people to take a selfie with their thumbs up and donate. He smashed his target within a year before the sum surged to £3million by the time he died after being backed by famous names, including then-PM David Cameron, comedian Jason Manford and footballer David Beckham.
Stephen with comedian Jason Manford after his campaign went viral (Mirror Screen Grab)Jane says: “When Stephen was still with us, we’d raised £3million and at that point The Teenage Cancer Trust asked him ‘how do you want us to spend it?’ Stephen said ‘just carry on doing what you’re doing’. He knew what a difference being on a Teenage Cancer Trust ward made to him and he wanted every young person to have that support.”
Stephen’s millions have been spent on projects including building new specialist units in NHS hospitals and refurbishing existing ones. And it has helped fund national and regional events, and pay for travel expenses to and from them, so that young people can attend to talk about their experiences, like Stephen did.
In 2014, he because the first person to be given a Daily Mirror Pride of Britain award posthumously. Jane says: “Stephen wanted to go to university to study medicine because he wanted to make a difference. I like to think he’d have followed that through and he’d be out there now doing that to help other people. But even though he wasn’t able to, it’s comforting to me that he did make a difference to so many lives anyway.”
Stephen meeting former Prime Minister David Cameron (PA)
Stephen was praised for his charity workJane is determined to carry on raising more money in Stephen’s name. She joined a bucket collection outside a local supermarket last month, raising £2,200, and also helped at the annual Stephen Sutton rideout, which has so far raised more than £75,000, at the weekend.
She is now planning 16 events – one for every area with a Teenage Cancer Trust unit, starting with an elephant poo-shovelling challenge later this month. She says: “Just because we’ve reached that £6m mark now, we’re not going to stop. I’m going to carry on. I hope Stephen is watching down on me.
“In everything I do I have always got Stephen’s voice in my ear and I’m always thinking of him whenever I’m raising money. He’s there with me all the time and that spurs me on. He never let things get him down and rem-ained so positive, which is how I live my life now.”
Jane adds: “Who knows how much more we can raise... £10million might be pushing it a little bit. But at the end of the day £6million came about because Stephen put £10,000 on his bucket list. Who knows? Never say never.”
His legacy has already gone to help thousands
The millions raised in Stephen’s name have been spent helping thousands of youngsters to fight cancer at Teenage Cancer Trust units across the UK.
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Units, including at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth, where the teenager was a patient, have all benefited from his legacy. In total they have received £2.87million to refurbish and upgrade their facilities.
His mum Jane said: “The units are like a home from home for teenagers. The walls are bright, the furniture is funky, there’s a big social space, Wi-Fi access, flatscreen TVs – all the home comforts. You go in there and you’ll always see something going on, like a music workshop or whatever else. The idea behind them is it allows young people to keep their lives on track and makes them realise they’re not going through cancer on their own.”
Figures from the Teenage Cancer Trust say a further £1.2million raised in Stephen’s name has been spent on raising awareness of the early signs of cancer in young people. Jane added: “The specialist nurses and the youth co-ordinators treat them as a young person first and a cancer diagnosis second. They really get to know them as the young person.”
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