U.K. teen Steven Sutton tops charity goal with ‘final thumbs up’ post

Watch above: Thanks to Stephen Sutton’s perseverance and optimism, the terminally-ill teen has raised millions for charity and inspired people around the world. Stuart Greer reports.

British teen Stephen Sutton is fighting for his life after battling incurable colorectal cancer for the past four years.

But, in sharing his struggle with social media users around the world, he has crossed off one very big goal on his “bucket list” — raising millions for the U.K.’s Teenage Cancer Trust.

He had raised more than $1 million since learning in Jan. 2013 that his cancer was inoperable and had spread: he had tumours in his bowel, knee, groin and pelvis.

READ MORE: U.K. cancer charity fundraiser teen Stephen Sutton dies

When he learned his fate, he made a list of 46 things he wanted to do before he died that included a goal of raising 10,000 pounds (CDN $18,500) for the trust.

With that goal long surpassed, Sutton set his sights on a 1-million pound mark (CDN $1.85 million).

But, his condition took a drastic turn for the worse on Apr. 20 and he prepared himself and his followers for the end of his life.

“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,” he wrote Thursday in a Facebook post that has been shared 12,000 times. “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.”

Sutton believed his situation was so dire that he made one last “thumbs up” to his combined 460,000 Facebook and Twitter followers on Tuesday..

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“It’s a shame the end has come so suddenly- there’s so many people I haven’t got round to properly thank or say goodbye to. Apologies for that. There was also so many exciting projects and things I didn’t get to see. Hopefully some will continue and if you want to carry on the fundraising please do.”

They did.

His fundraising tally was at about $1.1 million by that point, but within hours of his post it had risen to nearly $1.5 million.

By Thursday, that total had more than doubled. As of Thursday evening, more than $3.7 million had been raised through more than 80,000 donations (since the campaign began).

“To get to see the million pound fundraising target being reached was just phenomenal,” he wrote.

And, in the days since that farewell post Sutton’s health has also improved.

“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,” he wrote on Thursday.

He said his condition is still “vulnerable,” but he said he’s happy and his “plan is to take things day by day.”

“Just keep on keeping on like I always have,” Sutton wrote on Thursday.

Sutton said he’s no longer as concerned about accomplishing everything on his “bucket list.”

But, aside from his remarkable fundraising achievement, he had crossed off 31 of the 46 goals.

Here’s a look at Stephen Sutton crossed off his “bucket list”:

1) Raise £10,000 for teenage cancer trust- DONE!
2) Skydive for charity
3) Bungee jump for charity (at some place like the Macau tower, Verzasca dam, Victoria falls, etc)
4) Organize a charity party- DONE
5) Charity waxing and head shave
6) Write a book – DONE
7) Release a “tumour humour” joke book containing jokes, funny stories and anecdotes from cancer, that can help people to look at the brighter side of life
8) Organize a charity football match- DONE
9) Do a charity hitchhike visiting every Teenage Cancer Trust unit across the country
10)Write, record and release a charity single with my old band
11) Organize a charity gig – DONE
12) Go busking!- DONE
13)Persuade local schools to have a ‘get wiggy with it’ non uniform day- DONE
14)Charity quizzes at local pubs- DONE
15)Organize a charity ball- DONE
16)Host a charity ‘Come Dine With STE’ dinner party for friends- DONE
17)Organize and be part of a flash mob- DONE
18)Organize a gigantic game of musical chairs/pass the parcel/etc- DONE
19) Go to a carnival in Brazil.
20) Go to Wembley to see a football match- DONE
21) Go to Twickenham to see a rugby match- DONE
22) Fly somewhere first class- DONE
23) Get a tattoo- DONE
24) Drum in front of a huge crowd- DONE
25) Do some public speaking in front of a huge crowd of people- DONE
26) Go visit a famous waterfall
27)Throw a massive party for all my friends- DONE
28) Goon a ‘lads holiday’- DONE
29) Go to Australia
30) Hug an animal that is bigger than me- DONE
31)Ride a Segway- DONE
32) Go to a Skrillex concert
33) Go see a darts competition- DONE
34) Get my name into the Guinness World Book of Records somehow
35) Go to CERN in Switzerland- DONE
36) Meet Jimmy Carr- DONE
37) Go to another music festival- DONE
38) Find someone with more surgical scars than me (>47cm worth)- DONE
39) Star as an extra in a film or music video- DONE
40) Get Tim Minchin to write a song for me
41) Learn to juggle – DONE
42) Inspire someone else to become a doctor or fundraiser- DONE
43) Have my portrait drawn- DONE
44) Crowd surf in a rubber dingy at a gig- DONE
45) Try breathing in xenon or sulphur dioxid eand talking (has the opposite effect of helium)
46) Visit Machu Picchu in Peru