Stephen Sutton: condition of teenage cancer patient and fundraiser worsens
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Version 0 of 1. The family a teenager with terminal cancer who has raised millions for charity have said his condition has deteriorated. Stephen Sutton, 19, from Burntwood, Staffordshire, was re-admitted to hospital at the weekend with breathing difficulties. On Tuesday his family said they had been told the breathlessness was due to the regrowth of tumours that were blocking the teenager's airways and said his condition had deteriorated in the last 24 hours. Posting on the teenager's Facebook blog, his family said: "Hi everyone, this is Stephen's family. "Unfortunately in the last 24 hours Stephen's condition has deteriorated to where he can no longer communicate through this page himself. "Unfortunately the breathlessness which had him re-admitted to hospital is due to the regrowth of tumours which are blocking his airways, and not just due to infection as we had all been hoping. "He is currently comfortable and stable, and we will let you know of any further developments. Right now however, as a family, we wish for a certain amount of privacy for us to spend what time he has remaining with him. "We appreciate everyone's concern, and for all the love and goodwill sent his way, and indeed ours too, we thank you deeply x." Sutton, who set up a bucket list of things to do before he died, has smashed his original £10,000 fundraising target, raising more than £3m for the Teenage Cancer Trust. His fundraising efforts have attracted support from celebrities including Simon Pegg, Russell Brand, Stephen Fry and Simon Cowell. More than 135,000 individual donations have been made on Sutton's Just Giving page with support coming from around the world. Donations to the fundraising page, which he set up in January 2013 alongside a blog on Facebook, leaped last month after he posted a picture of himself in hospital with a "goodbye" message. But he made what he described as a miraculous recovery – coughing up a tumour and being discharged from hospital on 2 May. The teenager was re-admitted to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth hospital at the weekend after developing breathing difficulties. Commenting on his Facebook page, which had more than 800,000 likes, on Sunday, Sutton wrote: "Unfortunately today I've ended up back in hospital. I had some breathing difficulties starting last night and after going to A&E have been admitted back to a ward for monitoring. "I've still got the cough, then quite quickly developed a wheeze in my breathing and breathlessness upon any physical exertion. "There's no immediate panic and I'm currently quite stable – I have been put on nebulisers and other meds which are currently helping my symptoms hugely." The teenager was diagnosed with bowel cancer when he was 15. Despite treatment, his tumours spread and he was informed his condition was incurable in December 2012. |