Stephen Sutton, the cancer-fighting, fundraising teenager who just last week sent a final ‘signing off’ message as his own health deteriorated has revealed yet another bizarre twist in his tale of heroism, publicity, and fundraising.
The 19-year-old who is suffering from colorectal cancer, as well as having complications elsewhere in his body posted a heartbreaking message last week after his #StephensStory cancer charity fundraiser burst through his £10,000 target and has of today reached nearly £3 million.
Today however, the boy who has gone through a ‘bucket list’ of final wishes posted the details of a remarkable incident from last night. The Huffington Post revealed that he appears to have coughed up a large tumour from inside his airways.
He wrote on Facebook:
This whole week has been pretty unbelievable and I can barely fully get my head round everything that has gone on, but yesterday there was perhaps the most bizarre but fortunate twist in the tale yet.
From around mid afternoon yesterday I developed a slight cough which slowly got worse as the day went on. From mid evening yesterday I developed a slight ‘wheeze’ in my breathing again which gradually got worse. After some visitors I had round in the evening left I tried sitting up in a chair, but straight away started asking the nurse to increase my oxygen levels as I was getting extremely short of breath. I then returned to my bed where I stabilised slightly for a while, but my breathing was still not right.
After a lying there for a bit longer the coughing increased and then suddenly the shortness of breath became incredibly severe. Amongst frantic hand pointing and panicking I felt like I was like suffocating. Then I forced out an oval red stained solid object through my mouth. My breathing and airway straight away felt clearer, but I spent the next hour violently coughing and choking, but then eventually my breathing once again stabilised.
Since then, my breathing has dramatically improved. I’m really stuck for the words of how to describe it. Throughout the night my throat was pretty sore but my 02 and other saturation levels are great. This morning I am relying on NO external oxygen to breath at all and I’m feeling bloody fantastic!!
The doctors have discussed what’s happened and the only plausible conclusion is that I’ve literally coughed up a tumour (probably along with bits of infection etc) that was blocking my airway. I have had an X-ray this morning which seems to show my right lung has inflated slightly, suggesting the substance I coughed up was also a significant pressure that was causing a restriction on the collapsed lung. Physiologically a tumour breaking away like this is possible, but it all just seems incredibly surreal- mind, I’m not complaining!
My lungs are still pretty messy with other tumours, clots and potential infections/inflammations/etc affecting my overall condition but, for now at least, I am in a good stable state. I have no immediate problems and in fact feel better than I did when I first came into hospital last Sunday! The general oncologist and team I’ve been seeing will discuss the events with my professor in the morning and we will see where we go from there.. It’s still a case of taking each day as it comes, but at the moment the days just keep on coming!!
Just 4 days ago Breitbart London reported that Stephen had raised £1.3m for the Teenage Cancer Trust. That number has since more than doubled.
On Tuesday Stephen issued a ‘final thumbs up’ from his hospital bed that led to funds coming in at a break neck speed.
Celebrity endorsements and retweets look set to continue to bring in donations, making it unclear how high the total will go. You can donate here.
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