Bob CollinsWhen Stephen Sutton of the UK learned he had bowel cancer at 15, and learned he was terminal at 17, he used his Facebook page to chronicle all the things he wanted to do before he dies. He wanted to skydive. He did. He wanted to play drums in a band at Wembley Stadium. He did. He wanted to crowd surf. He did.
One of his goals was to raise 1 million pounds ($1.7 million) for an organization providing support for teenagers fighting cancer. When he posted this week that his time is up, he was apparently shy of his goal by a lot — more than 400,000 pounds.
As of this morning, he’s raised more than 1.6 million pounds as word of his “goodbye” message spread.
“I don’t really want to die,” he said, “but hopefully my journey has influenced a lot of people for the better and taught people not to take life for granted.”
In the speech above, he said he didn’t know how much longer he had to live, “because I didn’t ask.” He said he learned not to measure life in time, but in what he could achieve.
