Stephen Sutton MBE
Pro-Chancellor, distinguished friends, colleagues, graduands and guests.
Stephen Sutton MBE, was a prolific charity activist. He won the hearts of the nation with his blog ‘Stephen’s Story’ and raised a staggering £5 million for the Teenage Cancer Trust through his four year battle with cancer.
Stephen was born in Burntwood in Staffordshire in 1994. He was a bright and active child who loved sports and athletics and had a flare for long distance running and football.
Steven received straight A grades from Chase Terrace Technology College in August 2012, and had interviews at Cambridge University to study medicine, as well as universities in Leicester and Leeds.
Steven was 15 years old when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. After two years of treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, his cancer returned to become incurable. His passion for fundraising was ignited during his treatment on one of the UK’s Teenage Cancer Trust units, which care for the specific needs of teenagers with cancer.
Stephen’s initial target was to raise £10,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust through a ‘thumbs-up’ campaign on Facebook. His quest gathered such momentum that he exceeded his target and raised a staggering £5 million.
Stephen was such a remarkable character that his campaign garnered support from notable celebrities including the comedians Jonathan Ross, Jimmy Car and Jason Manson. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, was photographed at Stephen’s bedside giving the trademark ‘thumbs up’ and described him as ‘amazing’ and an ‘inspiration’.
Whilst Stephen was fully aware of his prognosis, that is the likely outcome of his medical situation, he continued this fundraising work whilst trying to complete an ambitious bucket list, many of which he achieved including a sky dive and breaking a world record. His social media campaign, "#[hash tag] thumbs-up-for-Stephen" went viral and gathered national and international attention.
Ultimately, Stephen became the largest single fundraiser for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity and highlighted the unique work it does in meeting the needs of teenagers and young adults with cancer.
In May 2014 Stephen passed away peacefully at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham aged 19 years. Following his death, the Teenage Cancer Trust revealed plans detailing how the £5 million he raised would help other young people with cancer in the UK.
Included in this was a commitment to fund, through Stephen Sutton named scholarships, 50 professionals over the next five years to complete the Postgraduate Certificate in Teenage/Young Adult care at Coventry University. This will help support expert care to be delivered in many health care settings including the 30 specialist units that Teenage Cancer Trust will have built in the coming few years. Stephen’s mother, Jane Sutton, felt that this element of the funding was particularly relevant in recognition of Stephen’s ambition to have a medical career.
Stephen’s fundraising has helped the Teenage Cancer Trust charity to deliver its ambitious plans to reach out to more young people with cancer who previously may not have had any specialist support or age appropriate care.
Coventry University plays, and will continue to play, a key role in the education and training of health professionals to meet the unique needs of teenagers and young people with cancer and my academic colleagues in the Faculty continue to find this both tremendously as well as an absolute honour, as we do more generally in carrying out our responsibility to educate and train the current and future health and social care workforce.
Stephen Sutton has brought the particular circumstance and specific needs of teenage and young adult cancer patients to the attention of the general population. He has been an amazing voice both for these young people with cancer and also the great work of the charity Teenage Cancer Trust and has done so with absolute humanity in the face of such adversity.
In closing, Pro-Chancellor, distinguished friends, colleagues, graduands and guests, Coventry University is absolutely delighted that Stephen’s mother, Jane Sutton, is able to join us here today for this special occasion and to be able to accept this posthumous award on behalf of her remarkable son Stephen.
In recognition of his significant contribution to highlighting the unique needs of Teenagers and Young Adults with Cancer, and towards the education of health care professionals in this field, Coventry University, by decision of the Academic Board, has the privilege of conferring the Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, on Stephen Sutton.