How local accents have replaced Stephen Hawking-style voiceboxes

Stephen Hawking’s synthetic speech box is so fundamental to his persona that he reportedly refuses to upgrade to a more natural-sounding voice. But for the rest of the estimated 5,000 people with motor neurone disease in the UK – at least 80% of whom experience loss of speech – sounding like Stephen Hawking isn’t a particularly desirable prospect.

That is why MND researchers are working to ensure patients can still use their own voices, even after they lose the ability to speak. Jason Liversidge, a 41-year-old father from Scarborough, was diagnosed with MND in 2013 and his speech is already impaired. Now specialists at the Anne Rowling clinic in Edinburgh are making him a synthetic voice with a Yorkshire accent, generated by dozens of speech donors from the Scarborough area – including his best friend Phil. “I just don’t want to be a programmed voice on a computer,” Liversidge recently told the BBC, describing his voice as “a form of identity”.

Karen Pearce, a director of care at the MND Association, says people underestimate how central their speech patterns or catchphrases are to their identity. “I can’t imagine anything more important than being able to say to your wife, your husband or your children that you love them in your own voice,” she says, pointing to the case of an Irish man with MND who found that the off-the-peg selection of synthesised voices did not include an Irish male.

“He either had to choose ‘Irish Mary’, or use a Scottish voice. So now he talks in a Scottish accent. That really has an impact on someone’s identity.”

Liversidge is a lucky exception: he got involved with the University of Edinburgh’s Speak Unique project, a pilot programme collecting voice donations from every region, gender and age group in Scotland, which can theoretically be used to blend tailored voices resembling those of people with MND.

The MND Association encourages people to bank their own voices as soon as possible after they’re diagnosed, before the condition begins to affect their speech. Services such as CereVoice Me, ModelTalker and VocaliD invite patients to record several hundred phrases, from which they can generate an infinite selection of words and sentences using an iPad app controlled by the flick of a finger or the movement of an eye.

Stephen Hawking’s current voice machine interface was custom-made by Intel in 2013, and is controlled by an infrared switch that he operates by twitching his cheek. But the voice itself is the same one he has had since 1986, when he got his first speech synthesiser. Even he can’t tell where it’s supposed to be from, writing on his website that his accent “has been described variously as Scandinavian, American or Scottish”.

How local accents have replaced Stephen Hawking-style voiceboxes

Private money is the NHS’s saviour, not its bogeyman | Stephen Dalton

Recent headlines about the NHS drawing up secret “sustainability and transformation plans” have led to speculation about widespread cuts to local services and allegations of an orchestrated attempt by the NHS to keep the public in the dark. For the record, indiscriminate closures are neither planned nor legal. But the need for a rational, national debate about how we secure a viable health and care system is urgent, and made more difficult by partisan and party-political arguments.

What’s more, and with this week’s autumn statement highly unlikely to offer anything other than jam tomorrow, we must shift the focus away from hospitals. I don’t know any NHS leaders who believe that more hospitals are the answer. Quite a few hospitals and services could do with shifting to where they’re most needed, but the NHS has no appetite for solutions reliant on more institutional settings.

Right now NHS leaders are calling for the priority to be social care. But with the country’s most publicly treasured institution facing unprecedented demand, exponential growth in high-cost complex care and a post-Brexit economic landscape that leaves little room for optimism, what are our political leaders talking about? The threat posed to the service by the private sector.

What was seen a decade or so ago as a sensible way of attracting investment, and what helped get average waiting times down from 18 months to 18 weeks, is now seen as a political no-go area, with the Tories and Labour locked in an arms race over who has used the private sector least while in office. This is a con trick, as in reality the private sector has been used for decades to help sustain a health service that is free at the point of use and available to all based on need and not ability to pay.

Currently, NHS leaders are working through how to bridge the quality, access and finance gaps in their areas, and it’s not unusual for these plans to be predicated on the need for multimillion-pound injections of capital. Across the country, funding requirements run into billions, and there will need to be significant private investment if plans for transforming the NHS care landscape are to be realised. This raises the spectre of the rightly discredited PFI schemes. Acknowledging and learning from their failure, rather than being paralysed by past events, is the way forward.

Independent-sector healthcare providers, which increase the system’s capacity to respond to demand, help meet waiting-time targets and enable investment to bring important benefits for patients – most of whom are relaxed about who provides their care, so long as it’s high-quality and free at the point of use. This is particularly important at a time of lengthening waiting times and unprecedented demand, and in advance of winter, which always adds to existing pressures.Examples of beneficial private sector involvement include quicker access to treatment through the use of private hospitals paid at NHS prices, more rapid discharge from hospital through well-established “recovery at home” services, and access to private sector community diagnostic facilities for scans, tests and examinations, again at NHS prices.

There will need to be significant private investment if plans for transforming the NHS care landscape are to be realised

We need to remember too that the public sector does not have a monopoly on caring. I have more than 40 years of public sector clinical and leadership experience, and in that time we have seen high-profile failures in the private, public and voluntary sectors. I don’t seek to deny the incidence of failure, but providing choice beyond a single, public option, introducing personal budgets and enabling different forms of independent sector provision has more often been a force for good, and improved people’s lives.

And this is still the NHS – free at the point of use, with strong safeguards over quality and safety.

So let’s stop pretending that private sector involvement in the NHS is a uniformly bad thing: it isn’t. Around 10 million NHS patients per year are treated by private sector organisations operating across nearly 2,000 sites. Patient feedback and Care Quality Commission inspection reports demonstrate that these services are generally safe, responsive and high-quality.

The political debate over the future of the NHS urgently needs refreshing, and portraying private sector healthcare organisations as bogeymen that should either be pushed out of the NHS or never spoken about simply serves to bind the hands of NHS leaders who want to bring about change in partnership with others.

As long as this political negativity exists, it will be patients who feel the consequences.

Private money is the NHS’s saviour, not its bogeyman | Stephen Dalton

Stephen Hawking urges inquiry into Hunt"s NHS patient death claims

Stephen Hawking, Lord Winston and a number of senior doctors are urging the prime minister, Theresa May, to hold an inquiry into Jeremy Hunt’s controversial claim that 11,000 patient deaths a year are caused by a lack of medics on duty in hospitals at weekends.

Their plea comes in a letter to the Guardian that claims the health secretary has caused a “devastating breakdown of trust between government and the medical profession” by misrepresenting the evidence on the “weekend effect”.

Hunt has come under fire since he began maintaining last year that “there are 11,000 excess deaths because we do not staff our hospitals properly at weekends”. Critics, including the British Medical Journal, have rejected his claim and accused him of highly selective use of complex evidence about the higher number of patients who die within 30 days of being admitted to hospital on a weekend.

The letter is a significant new challenge to Hunt’s integrity over the weekend effect – higher mortality among those admitted on a Saturday or Sunday – and what lies behind it.

Its authors want the prime minister to order an independent inquiry into the process behind the definition and claims of a weekend effect. They say there is so much disagreement about the evidence underpinning the weekend effect that ministers should pause the new junior doctors’ contract and the push to create “a truly seven-day NHS”.

Physicist Stephen Hawking. Photograph: National Geographic Channels/Pau

Hunt’s assertion of a weekend effect due to understaffing is important politically because he has consistently used it to justify imposing the unpopular new contract on England’s 54,000 NHS junior doctors and the government’s push to make more NHS services in England available at weekends. The latter was a key Conservative pledge in last year’s general election campaign.

Other signatories to the letter include: Trish Greenhalgh, a professor at Oxford University specialising in evidence-based medicine; Prof Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health; and Prof Alistair Hall, a cardiologist and epidemiologist at the Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust.

They accuse Hunt of wasting NHS resources by forcing it to expand to a much fuller seven-day service on the basis of “bad evidence”, and of ignoring findings that challenge his thesis and misleading MPs and the general public.

“It is wrong to waste precious resources, or lives, because of bad evidence. Like NHS treatments, health policy should be evidence-based to demonstrate clinical and cost-effectiveness,” they write.

Scientist Lord Winston. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

“Hunt has cherrypicked research, causing a devastating breakdown of trust between government and the medical profession. In making these claims without faithfully representing the evidence, he has obstructed fact and misled parliament and the public,” they add.

Other signatories include: Dr Margaret McCartney, a prominent GP and an author, columnist and broadcaster on medical matters; Dr Phil Hammond, vice-president of the Patients Association; and several prominent junior doctors.

The doctors dispute specifically Hunt’s claim that eight research studies back up his concern that a lack of medics in hospitals at weekends is leading to large numbers of avoidable patient deaths.

The authors of the letter also want the prime minister to halt “any policies or contractual reform driven by this evidence until it can be examined objectively and with rigour”.

Prof Julian Bion, an expert in the weekend effect at Birmingham University, said that the High-Intensity Specialist-Led Acute Care project, which he has been leading since 2014, is undertaking the sort of inquiry that the letters writers seek.

While not disputing the existence of a weekend effect, Bion said the causes of it were “multifactorial” and not simply due to too few doctors being on duty. “There is evidence that patients admitted at weekends are sicker and the weekend effect may therefore have a ‘community dimension’,” he added. “The causes may include [the availability or not and quality of] community and social care as much as hospital care.”

Paul Aylin, another expert in weekend-related mortality and a professor at Imperial College London, said there were many “studies out there of varying quality, and people therefore have plenty to pick from to support their side of the argument”. But international evidence showed a weekend effect in patients who had a gastrointestinal haemorrhage, stroke, heart attack, arrhythmia or cardiac arrest, but not in neonatal deaths, he said.

A Department of Health spokesman rejected the authors’ concerns. “Over the past six years, we have been presented with clear independent evidence of variation in care across the weekend – this government makes no apology for tackling the issue, to build a safer seven-day NHS for patients,” he said.

“Further peer-reviewed evidence is emerging all the time, including the authoritative 2015 Freemantle report, which confirmed previous evidence of a weekend effect.”

Stephen Hawking urges inquiry into Hunt"s NHS patient death claims

The evidence of an NHS weekend effect is shaky | Letter from Neena Modi, David Owen, Robert Winston, Stephen Hawking and others

We call on Theresa May to act in the public’s interest and take immediate action over freshly disputed evidence surrounding a “weekend effect”. Department of Health documents leaked to the Guardian and Channel 4 News revealed NHS policy concerns from Jeremy Hunt’s own civil servants. His repeated claim about thousands of patients dying unnecessarily because of poor weekend hospital care “has not been helpful” in justifying new seven-day services. The internal briefing document proposed other means to vindicate his policy, but repeats the assertion that “eight independent studies have set out the evidence for a ‘weekend effect’ – unacceptable variation in care across the week”.

The evidence for these claims is not supported by reliable research. Of the eight “studies” cited by Hunt, only four are independently peer-reviewed, yet peer-review is essential. Three use data from the same population and are not independent, with just two from the last decade. The remainder are not peer-reviewed medical literature, being opinion pieces, the lowest form of clinical evidence. Critically, when his claims began, at least 13 independent, peer-reviewed papers were available to the secretary of state that refute his definition of a weekend effect.

Hunt has cherrypicked research, causing a devastating breakdown of trust between government and the medical profession. In making these claims without faithfully representing the evidence, he has obstructed fact and misled parliament and the public.

We call on Theresa May to commission an independent inquiry into the process behind these policies. It is wrong to waste precious resources, or lives, because of bad evidence. Like NHS treatments, health policy should be evidence-based to demonstrate clinical and cost-effectiveness. Additionally, we call for a pause on any policies or contractual reform driven by this evidence until it can be examined objectively and with rigour.

Dr Taha Nasser
Dr Ben White
Dr Hugo Farne
Dr Antonio De Marvao
Dr Rachel Clarke
Dr Margaret McCartney
Dr Philippa Whitford MP
Dr Phil Hammond Vice-president, Patients’ Association
Professor Alistair Hall Epidemiologist
Professor Trisha Greenhalgh Evidence-based practice
Professor Neena Modi President RCPCH
David Owen House of Lords
Professor Robert Winston House of Lords
Professor Stephen Hawking

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

The evidence of an NHS weekend effect is shaky | Letter from Neena Modi, David Owen, Robert Winston, Stephen Hawking and others

Stephen Hawking: I was close to death after bout of pneumonia in 1980s

Stephen Hawking tells the Royal School of Surgeons about his close to-death encounter following pneumonia. Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA

Physicist Stephen Hawking grew to become so ill following a bout of pneumonia for the duration of the 1980s that physicians offered to switch off his life help machine.

Hawking, who had a tube inserted into his windpipe thirty many years in the past soon after creating motor neurone disease, explained he was considered to be “so far gone” that medics weighed up disconnecting his ventilator.

Medical professionals later agreed the A Brief Background Of Time author ought to be flown back from Switzerland – exactly where he had fallen unwell – to England for even more therapy. There he was in a position to lead close to a “full and active lifestyle”.

The 72-12 months-outdated informed the Royal University of Surgeons on Monday: “I was rushed to hospital and put on a ventilator.

“The medical professional mentioned they thought I was so far gone they offered to flip off the ventilator.

“But I was flown back to Cambridge. The doctors there tried tough to get me back to how I was just before.”

The University of Cambridge lecturer was speaking at the launch of the European International Tracheostomy Collaborative (GTC) in central London, exactly where he was provided a standing ovation by far more than 200 delegates.

He said: “For the last three years I have been on total-time ventilation but this has not prevented me from top a total and active lifestyle.”

The GTC undertaking, funded by the Well being Foundation, makes it possible for experts and health-related experts to operate collectively on treating individuals, like Hawking, with an artificial airway.

About 15,000 tracheostomy procedures are carried out in England and Wales each and every 12 months.

Stephen Hawking: I was close to death after bout of pneumonia in 1980s

White-collar boxing is too harmful to be left unlicensed | Stephen Moss

‘The 1999 movie Fight Club, with its portrait of emasculated males hunting for an outlet for their baser instincts, acted as a recruiting sergeant for gyms that presented white-collar boxing.’ Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/20th Century Fox

When it came to white-collar boxing I was an early adopter. In 2000, I was carrying out a fitness programme and started out going to former European featherweight champion Jim McDonnell’s health club in Camden, north London. I was 43 many years outdated, 3 stone obese and immediately hooked. Working out in a gym with a ring is a thousand times more entertaining than paying countless time on a treadmill or workout bike. The boxing gave the slog a level.

On the wall of McDonnell’s health club was a poster recruiting would-be white-collar boxers for a fight evening at Gleason’s gymnasium in New York – a bunch of British boxers pitted against the may possibly of the US. Well, when I say the may, most of them have been blokes like me – sedentary middle-aged men seeking to get a bit fitter. They worked out at Gleason’s in Brooklyn routinely and as soon as a month gathered for a appropriate battle – three two-minute rounds in a ring, watched by 50 or so buddies and fellow fighters.

Stephen Moss (left), back in his boxing days. Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian

I was put in with a 58-year-previous who had taken up boxing following suffering a heart attack. He determined he essential to shed some bodyweight, and boxing appeared the ideal way to do it. It is the most fantastic physical exercise: substantial intensity, all the limbs are moving concurrently, and you have to try out to hold the brain fully centered.

We invested six minutes moving round the ring and failing to land any punches in what may possibly have been the most dull “battle” of all time. A girl from Channel four, who was there recce-ing white collar boxing for a attainable documentary, described it as a “gentlemen’s fight” – minimal speak to, no blood – which was just the way I liked it. I had been terrified ahead of my physical appearance afterwards, I felt wonderful. At Gleason’s everybody was declared a winner – the actual challenge was just to climb via the ropes – and all the participants have been handed a rather naff plastic trophy. Americans adore trophies.

White-collar boxing subsequently grew to become large enterprise, with plenty of gyms opening up to cater for blokes who wanted an adrenaline-fuelled way to get match. The 1999 movie Fight Club, with its portrait of emasculated males searching for an outlet for their baser instincts, acted as a recruiting sergeant for gyms that supplied white-collar boxing. I keep in mind seeing the movie and strolling on air as I emerged in Leicester Square, recklessly crossing roads as if no auto could harm me. It is that sort of film – an ode to liberation.

Now white-collar boxing, which has usually had its critics, faces a crisis. A 32-yr-old, Lance Ferguson-Prayogg, has died following a white-collar battle in Nottingham. The trigger of his death has nevertheless to be confirmed, but already there are calls for this kind of boxing to be created unlawful. This branch of the “sport” has, in fact, often existed in a sort of legal limbo, and it is by no means clear whether or not boxing of this kind – occasions amongst unlicensed boxers for which tickets have been offered – was ever really legal.

I have watched one particular of Ferguson-Prayogg’s fights on-line, and it bears no resemblance to the type of white-collar boxing I did in the United kingdom or at Gleason’s. My boxing was a kind of enhanced kind of sparring – constantly wearing headguards and with no winner declared, although some of the boxers I fought alongside at Gleason’s were taking it a good deal far more seriously than me, and there were knockdowns.

Ferguson-Prayogg’s fights had been complete-on battles – no headguards, in effect pro boxing but with much less technique. Some of the knockdowns are brutal. The fights were refereed, medical personnel have been present, a entire body named the Organised Global Boxing Association supervised Ferguson-Prayogg’s fatal battle, and it claims absolutely everyone who fights below its auspices has a complete healthcare. That is clearly better than completely unsupervised boxing – blokes bashing the hell out of every single other in a basement, Fight Club-type – but it is nonetheless highly questionable.

The British Boxing Board of Handle, which oversees skilled boxing in the Uk, has manufactured its emotions plain. “We have totally nothing to do with the OIBA and do not condone what they do,” a spokesman mentioned. “Our body regulates skilled boxing to a strict set of guidelines and rules. Boxing can be an extremely harmful sport and we have strict medical procedures to comply with in all professional bouts.”

They are obviously proper. The type of fight Ferguson-Prayogg, a supremely fit youthful guy who boxed a lot, engaged in needs to be licensed either by the expert game, or under amateur principles (overseen by the British Amateur Boxing Association) with strict medicals, headguards, principles on the number of head punches and interventionist refereeing. A single difficulty is that amateur clubs can be tough to discover or open at inconvenient hrs, which is why some young professionals are ready to spend a great deal of money for the white-collar knowledge.

Really the place that leaves the sort of pseudo-battle I had at Gleason’s I am not sure. Drawing the line between a full-on battle and what is in result a kind of advanced form of boxercise is constantly going to be hard. But Ferguson-Prayogg’s death implies that, soon after a decade of obfuscation, it’s time to kind it out as soon as and for all. Boxing can be excellent for you, but only if it really is appropriately conducted.

White-collar boxing is too harmful to be left unlicensed | Stephen Moss

Who need to Stephen Dorrell as well being decide on committee chair?

Stephen Dorrell, Conservative MP for Charwood Photograph: Eleanor Bentall/ Eleanor Bentall/Corbis

Stephen Dorrell, chair of the well being choose committee, is standing down from the role, it was announced yesterday.

The resignation, which requires area with instant result, was announced on Twitter by committee member Sarah Wollaston.

In a subsequent letter to the speaker of the Property of Commons, Dorrell explained: “I have experimented with to chair the health committee in a way which emphasises the broad measure of agreement which I believe exists across celebration divisions on essential objectives of well being policy.”

Dorrell also stated that, even though he believes these key aims for policy are widely shared, “it is turning out to be clear that in the future we shall need to consider in a completely distinct way about how they are met”, and that he “can make a much more effective contribution to this developing considered process from a less overtly political position”.

Dorrell, a former well being secretary and Conservative MP for Charwood, has held the function considering that 2010, and there is now speculation about who will substitute him.

Who do you believe ought to be the following chair – and what do you make of Dorrell’s resignation? Share your views in the comments section below, or tweet us @GdnHealthcare.

Who need to Stephen Dorrell as well being decide on committee chair?

In photos: Cancer campaigner Stephen Sutton remembered at vigil

Thousands of folks have attended a vigil for young cancer campaigner Stephen Sutton at Lichfield Cathedral. Stephen, 19, from Burntwood, Staffordshire, has raised more than four million pounds for The Teenage Cancer Charity.Image: Christopher Furlong/ Getty

In photos: Cancer campaigner Stephen Sutton remembered at vigil

Thousands give Stephen a ultimate thumbs-up

“Stephen, his positivity and his extraordinary mindset to daily life will not be forgotten,” explained Siobhan Dunn, chief executive of the Teenage Cancer Believe in, in the course of a farewell service at the end of a 24-hour cathedral vigil.

A thousand folks have been on the West Lawn and one,200 family and close friends sat inside. They had been reminded that Stephen had been an athlete, a football player and a brilliant pupil when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer at the age of 15.

After getting informed it was incurable two years in the past, he commenced creating a weblog called Stephen’s Story and published a checklist of 46 “weird and wonderful” factors he wished to do ahead of he died.

He never acquired to dance at a carnival in Rio but he did tick off 34 in a short area of time – including skydiving for charity, hugging an elephant and playing drums at a enormous venue. That was just before the Champions League Last last 12 months with Pandemonium, a very animated drum troupe that led his funeral cortege nowadays, the light bulbs on their vivid blue caps all aglow.

He also needed to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust and inspire folks to become medics. His efforts had been presently currently being acclaimed, but it was in April that Stephen all of a sudden accomplished worldwide fame via the social media internet sites Facebook and Twitter.

It occurred when he posted a photograph of himself lying in a hospital bed, getting been informed he was about to die, saying: “It’s a ultimate thumbs-up from me.”

^{Stephen Sutton attained several of his bucket-list wishes and raised millions for cancer research just before his death (PA)}

This touching picture inspired the comedian Jason Manford, who had met Stephen at a fundraising occasion, to begin a campaign on Twitter that was swiftly supported by celebrities including the actors Benedict Cumberbatch and David Tennant and the athletes Rebecca Adlington and Sir Chris Hoy.

It obtained a level of public help that took his household and Stephen himself by surprise. Enjoying a brief and slight recovery, he found he had 200,000 followers on Twitter and a million pals on Facebook. Manford explained: “The reason we took to him so passionately was simply because he was better than us. He did anything none of us could even envision carrying out.”

Much more than 330,000 people have produced donations to the Teenage Cancer Believe in as a outcome of Stephen Sutton’s efforts, his farewell support was informed. By the time his coffin was driven away to a personal cremation — by a hearse with a burst of yellow ribbon on the bonnet – he had raised £4.5 million for the trust.

That is the greatest donation in the charity’s background, many times above. Stephen died in hospital in Birmingham on May 14, holding his mother’s hand. “Do anything that makes you and other individuals satisfied, in Stephen’s memory,” she told mourners at the time. “Give a thumbs-up to a stranger, have a cup of tea and a slice of cake … or even carry out a random act of kindness.”

A lot of took element in a mass moment on Twitter and Facebook at 11am, posting images of themselves carrying out the thumbs-up that had turn into his sign. By yesterday lunchtime, ten,000 had paid their respects at the cathedral. As they shuffled forward to the coffin, there have been songs, selected by his household, enjoying. One declared: “I’ve had the time of my existence.”

The coffin, with silver handles, lay on wooden trestles in the nave, surrounded by white and yellow flowers. A extended candle stood at every single corner, tied with a yellow ribbon. At the foot of the coffin was a brilliant yellow wreath in the shape of a pillow, with a smiley encounter. A photograph of Stephen looked across, also smiling.

^{Thumbs up tributes are left on the grass throughout the funeral services of Stephen Sutton at Lichfield Cathedral (GETTY Photographs)}

The 14th century cathedral can be dark, but the candles, flowers and colours shone brightly.

A single boy, with tousled black hair and a football shirt, approached the coffin and gave a shy thumbs-up, shut to his chest. His mom had her arm all around his shoulder, and pulled him in tight.

“We did not know Stephen but we wished to come,” she said afterwards. Maria was her identify, but she did not want to recognize her son as she had taken him out of school in South Yorkshire to drive down and do this.

“I truly feel for his mum, I genuinely do,” mentioned Maria. “This is all fantastic and everything, he was inspirational … but a mum has lost her boy, hasn’t she?”

Mrs Sutton was applauded when she arrived at the cathedral with her son Chris for the public farewell. Stuart Jones, the head teacher of Chase Terrace Technology School, explained Stephen had managed to pass his AS ranges with flying colors, in spite of enduring radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

“Stephen’s bucket checklist captured our imagination at the school,” said his teacher. “Little did we know that it would capture the imagination of the public at large.”

There was laughter when Mr Jones described how Stephen persuaded him to join in a charity skydive. “Personally, I hated it. But I’m truly glad I did it. Stephen’s spirit tends to make us want to be braver and bolder.”

The Dean of Lichfield, the Quite Rev Adrian Dorber, informed The Every day Telegraph that Stephen was “a force of nature. There is an extraordinary sadness about someone residing with a cancer diagnosis at that age. But he refused to be defined by that illness and turned the sadness into a optimistic force for excellent that was astonishing”.

When the coffin was gone, the balloons lingered collectively in the sky above the cathedral for a remarkably prolonged time. The memory of the brief but brilliant daily life of Stephen Sutton will linger even longer.

Thousands give Stephen a ultimate thumbs-up

1000"s attend vigil in honour of cancer campaigner Stephen Sutton

Stephen Sutton’s efforts assisted increase above £4m for the fight against cancer. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

A lot more than ten,000 people took part in a vigil in honour of Stephen Sutton, the teenage cancer campaigner whose achievements have been remembered on Friday at a memorial support prior to he was laid to rest at a personal funeral.

The services, held to mark the finish of two days’ thanksgiving for the lifestyle of the 19-12 months-old who helped raise £4m in the fight towards cancer just before he succumbed to a number of tumours on 14 Might, was attended by friends and loved ones which includes his mom Jane, and older brother Chris.

Tributes have been also paid on social media. Stephen was a keen consumer of Twitter which said that eleven,000 tweets had been sent with the hashtag #ThumbsUpForStephen.

1000′s filed past his white coffin over two days as it lay in area of honour within Lichfield Cathedral, Staffordshire, in what Adrian Dorber, dean of Lichfield, named a phenomenal show of human unity for a man who had “turn into everybody’s favourite son”.

Among the mourners was comedian Jason Manford, who met Stephen in hospital, and was between a host of celebrities who praised the young man’s courage in residing with terminal condition.

Earlier, about 400 men and women had also offered a thumbs-up to the memory of Sutton.

Dorber mentioned Stephen’s memory had energised people, the two youthful and old, cancer survivors and sufferers, who had queued to grieve the loss of the teenager, from Burntwood, in Staffordshire.

He explained the enduring lesson of Stephen, diagnosed with bowel cancer at 15, was “to dwell not as a victim but as a free of charge younger man or woman”, including his inspiration was to “offer an substitute to the bleak, indicate see, we often have of daily life”.

Stephen’s former headteacher, Stuart Jones, of Chase Terrace Engineering College, explained there was a collective pride more than the fact Stephen had studied there. “It is hard to comprehend how he found the courage, determination and vitality to achieve what he did in his final couple of years,” he said.

These achievements, brought with each other in a bucket list, incorporated Sutton urging Jones to join him in a 15,000ft skydive. “I hated it, as I anticipated, but am genuinely glad I did it,” he stated. “His spirit tends to make us want to be bolder and braver.”

Siobhan Dunn, chief executive of the Teenage Cancer Believe in, explained: “The big difference Stephen has produced has been immeasurable.” She stated the charity would commit the donations supporting and building the trust’s 22 Uk units, outreach nursing teams and youth assistance staff.

“Younger men and women ought to not be defined by their cancer,” she mentioned, including that thecharity would carry on to perform under Stephen’s ethos that “even though he could have had cancer, cancer did not have him”.

Dunn mentioned: “How fitting it is a young individual with cancer proved the catalyst to supporting a lot of far more younger men and women with cancer, now and in the future.”

Outside, as his coffin emerged from the cathedral the crowd of one,200 again clapped for a ultimate time as 19 balloons have been launched by his mother and brother, prior to a a lot greater number had been allow loose to cheers and musical backing by the Pandemonium Drummers, who had performed for the London 2012 Olympic Video games.

1000"s attend vigil in honour of cancer campaigner Stephen Sutton

Funeral of Stephen Sutton requires place at Lichfield Cathedral

The 19-yr-outdated succumbed to several tumours on May 14 soon after a determined battle – provoking an outpouring of grief, and prompting Prime Minister David Cameron to say: “His spirit, bravery and fund-raising for cancer study were all an inspiration.”

1000′s turned out above each days to file past Stephen’s white coffin as it lay in a place of honour inside the cathedral in what Dean of Lichfield the Extremely Reverend Adrian Dorber named a “phenomenal” display of human unity, for the guy he mentioned “has grow to be everybody’s favourite son”.

Funeral of Stephen Sutton requires place at Lichfield Cathedral

Final farewell for Stephen Sutton as two-day vigil ends

Stephen’s Story – the blog about his bid to full a bucket list of 46 “weird and superb things” just before he died – has now inspired a lot more than 170,000 men and women to donate to The Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) from 94 distinct nations.

A record-breaking £4.one million has been provided to the campaign with donations continuing to be manufactured at a fee of £1,000 an hour.

In a final public service, the Dean of Lichfield described the public’s reaction to the teenager’s passing as a “phenomenal” show of human unity.

He added that Stephen, who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer aged just 15 and died on May possibly 14, had “become everybody’s favourite son around here”.

Stephen’s former headteacher, Stuart Jones, additional that there was “a collective pride” between all college students and personnel at the Staffordshire college who had spent time with the teenager.

^{A photograph of Stephen Sutton stands in Lichfield Cathedral (PA)}

The vigil, which was attended in excess of the two days by more than ten,000 individuals which includes comedian Jason Manford, is to be followed by the release of a charity record that will characteristic forty musicians inspired by the 19-12 months-old’s perform.

It will also contain a speech from Stephen that he had intended to use on his very own single, and the sound of him enjoying the tambourine.

Proceeds from the sale of the record will go to the (TCT), which has already acquired more than practically half of its annual funding by means of Stephen’s charity work.

Final farewell for Stephen Sutton as two-day vigil ends

Stephen Sutton vigil: coffin to be carried out to the music of Olympic Games drummers

As the 11th bell chimed at eleven.00, everyone’s thumbs went up and this was followed by a minute of applause.

The Staffordshire cathedral is hosting a two-day vigil for the teenager, whose white coffin was yesterday witnessed by seven,000 mourners in what the Dean of Lichfield, the Quite Reverend Adrian Dorber, named a “phenomenal” display of human unity for the man he mentioned “has turn into everybody’s favourite son about here”.

As the clapping died away, a lone voice from the crowd cried “Go Steve”, and a large cheer went up.

Sarah Deeley, a care employee from Tamworth in the West Midlands, mentioned she essential to come and say “thank you” to Stephen for his instance.

“He was just such a great particular person, this is the least I could do,” she stated.

It comes as record producers announced a charity record is to be launched in Stephen’s memory.

The record, called Hope Ain’t A Undesirable Thing, has been created by the Neon Brotherhood, as a individual tribute by forty musicians inspired by the work of the 19-year-previous.

It will attribute a speech from Stephen that he had intended to use on his very own charity single, whilst he is also heard enjoying the tambourine.

The record featuring Stephen has been reduce at the Neon Sound Studios in his house town of Burntwood in Staffordshire, the place he jammed as a drummer with band Nothing Personalized.

Mike Wood, who coordinated the single, posted an advert on Facebook back in April when Stephen initial brought the result in of the TCT to the fore. The response to his appeal was “mind-boggling”, the 29-12 months-old explained.

“We had so numerous individuals that in the finish I had to flip musicians away,” stated Mike, who plays bass on the 5 minute 25 2nd recording.

Shane Mason, 19, of Brownhills in the West Midlands, plays piano on the record.

“I was by no means lucky sufficient to meet Stephen, but he was an inspiration,” he mentioned.

“We’ve had the blessing from the loved ones, and each Chris (Stephen’s older brother) and Jane (his mother) came to see us in the studio last week, and are behind us a hundred%.”

He extra: “I was playing piano on the track, and there was a picture of Stephen hanging up on the studio wall above me, where he is smiling and posing.

“I sort of liked to think he was there with us even though we were recording.”

All the proceeds from the sale of the record, which will be released on iTunes and Amazon on Monday, will go to the TCT.

^{A photograph of Stephen Sutton stands in Lichfield Cathedral (PA)}

Properly-wishers have streamed into the 14th-century cathedral, with numerous unable to enter the packed constructing, as an organist played Toccata from Symphony V by French composer Charles Marie Widor.

Ahead of the vigil at began at 7pm on Thursday £20,000 was donated to his JustGiving page in an hour.

Donations had been becoming produced at a charge of far more than £1,000 an hour to his campaign, which rose from £4.23 million at seven.30pm to £4.24 million by 8pm.

Stephen 1st commenced raising cash for TCT right after he was advised his cancer was terminal, prompting him to generate a bucket checklist of 46 “weird and fantastic things” he wished to do just before he died.

^{Yet another item on Stephen’s bucket record was a lad’s holiday in Ibiza (Movie UNITED)}

His original target was a modest £10,000 but he elevated this to £1 million soon after donations soared and his appeal attracted the focus of celebrities. He reached his £1 million target following posting a ‘final thumbs up’ selfie when his issue worsened and he went into hospital shortly prior to his death on May 14.

Opening the ceremony, the Dean of Lichfield, the Really Reverend Adrian Dorber, described Stephen as an “extraordinary example and inspiration” for absolutely everyone.

He mentioned: “We have gathered simply because we do not want to forget how Stephen has touched so several lives, how his optimistic perspective turned his own cancer into a force for existence.

“We want to don’t forget what Stephen has taught us not to waste time on his sickness, but to grab hold of every single single factor that enhances daily life and tends to make the world a much more joyful area.

“In these up coming few hrs we are attempting to do what Stephen did brilliantly, and that is to make the unacceptable meaningful and beautiful.”

He then read through the poem “Dust” by Elizabeth Jennings before Julia Hayburn, the assistant head of Stephen’s former school, Chase Terrace Technological innovation College, also paid tribute.

She advised of how, when he was diagnosed, the “established” teenager’s instant reaction was to phone a meeting with teachers simply because he refused to consider doctors’ advice to “neglect his Yr 11 examine”.

As an alternative he would go on to complete his GCSEs and AS-amounts, she additional.

“Words like wonderful, awe-inspiring and inspirational grew to become synonymous with Stephen – but they only touched the surface of what he has turn out to be on a national and international scale,” said Mrs Hayburn.

Following the end of the hour long formal component of the services, the Dean invited the congregation to do 5 factors in flip, like signing the books of condolence and giving the “thumbs-up” signal that has turn out to be synonymous with the teenager’s campaign.

Scattered all around the church had been photographs of Stephen, badges printed with the phrases “thumbs up for Stephen” and cards telling folks where to donate.

^{Stephen Sutton achieved several of his bucket-listing wishes and raised hundreds of thousands for cancer analysis just before his death (PA)}

Also on the cards were Stephen’s most famous quote: “I never see the stage in measuring the worthiness of your lifestyle in terms of time, but rather you should measure lifestyle in terms of what you attain.”

Among individuals attending and providing their thumbs-up were Celia Houghton and her 14-year-previous daughter Freya, who had gone to college with Stephen.

The teenager remembered a potent speech Stephen gave to the school’s assembly a 12 months ago, saying “he was one particular man or woman who stood out”.

“The one particular factor that spoke to me was when he said ‘don’t measure time by the clock, measure it by what you do’,” extra Freya.

“When he died, folks cried at college.

“I keep in mind strolling along the corridor and folks have been making use of Publish-It notes to stick goodbye messages on the wall.”

The teenager’s favourite records – including You’ve Acquired A Friend In Me, by Randy Newman – have been played.

Other songs on the 38 minute compilation like Time To Say Goodbye, by Russell Watson The Circle Of Daily life from Disney’s The Lion King Track Five, by Foo Fighters Do You Understand, by The Flaming Lips One Day Like This, by Elbow I’ll Be Missing You, by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans You may Never Stroll Alone and I’ve Had The Time Of My Life, by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes.

A queue of men and women waiting to pay out their respects to the teenager stretched outside Lichfield cathedral and lasted for far more than an hour soon after the Dean concluded his deal with.

Pamela Milligan, whose daughter attended the exact same college as Stephen stated: “I just feel it is fantastic what he has accomplished. The town has come with each other to pay out its respect, it’s covered in yellow. He was an inspiration.”

Peter Robinson, 70, a chartered surveyor stated: “He has done a great issue, raising an amazing amount of income, and we wanted to display our respect for what he has accomplished.

“We cannot believe how the boy next door can raise £4 million. It’s so moving. The ceremony was really appropriate and definitely packed out.”

People laid bunches of yellow flowers outdoors the Cathedral.

1 bouquet left by 1 of the 19-year-old’s former band members held a tribute that explained: “Ste, it was a pleasure to share the stage with you. Hold on drumming buddy.”

One more bunch was left by a female who met Stephen as he worked to reach his very first fundraising purpose of £10,000 in 2013 and became close friends with him in the final year of his existence.

Charlotte Aspley, 24, who also raises money for TCT said: “I’m just quite unhappy. He was the most wonderful person, the most jolly man or woman I have ever met. When I initial met him he was going for his 1st target of £10,000 and now it is £4 million.

“He was extraordinary. He grew to become a lot more and more determined to increase a lot more and far more funds with each milestone he reached.

“This services would have meant everything to him. He often needed to get himself out there, to meet individuals. We are so proud of him, and now we want to preserve his function going.”

The teenager documented his battle with cancer on his Facebook page, Stephen’s Story.

^{The funeral cortege of Stephen Sutton arrives at Lichfield Cathedral (GETTY Photos)}

More than £25,000 was donated overnight on Wednesday to reach £4 million by Thursday afternoon for Teenage Cancer Believe in (TCT).

Simon Fuller, director of companies at TCT stated: “Stephen’s method to cancer, indeed his technique to existence has inspired and motivated a lot more individuals than we could ever count.

“There is never ever a great time to get cancer but for a teenager the timing looks notably cruel.

“I never cease to be amazed by the courage and resilience that youthful folks discover in response to cancer diagnosis.

“His story was not a story about cancer – it was a story about lifestyle and residing it to the complete.

“When I last saw Stephen I asked him if he had any ideas on in which the funds he aided increase ought to be invested.

“He informed me to carry on performing precisely what we are carrying out. His wishes will be quite considerably honoured.

“We will make positive Stephen and all younger men and women with cancer are by no means forgotten.

“Stephen asked us to place the fun into fundraising but he didn’t stop there, he needed us to put the fun into funeral – so we’ve offered it a go.

“Stephen’s positivity and quiet determination to attain some thing quite profound has brought a sense of perspective and emphasis to our lives, displaying us that even little gestures can have a large impact.”

The service was due to finish at midnight ahead of the cathedral reopens at 7am on Friday just before a private family funeral is held in the afternoon.

Donations continued to be created during the service and far more than 172,000 had pledged money to his campaign by Thursday evening, which will shell out for more nurses and beds for other youngsters with cancer.

Evie wrote on his Justgiving page : “Very touched by your journey, your mindset, your positivity, humour and your massive superb heart. Massive thumbs up for you.”

Toddlr also posted: “Inspirational youthful guy whose legacy will dwell on by means of TCT.”

As the ceremony drew to a near in Lichfield more than £30,000 had been donated in 5 hrs – taking the complete to a lot more than £4 million.

When Present Support is extra to the donations, the campaign has raised much more than £4.5 million for the charity.

Stephen Sutton vigil: coffin to be carried out to the music of Olympic Games drummers

Hundreds attend Stephen Sutton vigil following cancer death - video

A public vigil is held at Lichfield Cathedral for Stephen Sutton, the 19-12 months-outdated cancer sufferer and fundraiser. Sutton has raised a lot more than £4m for medical analysis given that he was diagnosed with bowel cancer aged 15. He was praised for his work by celebrities this kind of as Russell Brand, Simon Cowell and Ricky Gervais

Hundreds attend Stephen Sutton vigil following cancer death - video

Stephen Sutton vigil: hundreds give "Thumbs Up" as cathedral bells chime

Sarah Deeley, a care worker from Tamworth in the West Midlands, said she needed to come and say “thank you” to Stephen for his example.

“He was just such a wonderful person, this is the least I could do,” she said.

It comes as record producers announced a charity record is to be released in Stephen’s memory.

The record, called Hope Ain’t A Bad Thing, has been produced by the Neon Brotherhood, as a personal tribute by 40 musicians inspired by the work of the 19-year-old.

It will feature a speech from Stephen that he had intended to use on his own charity single, while he is also heard playing the tambourine.

The record featuring Stephen has been cut at the Neon Sound Studios in his home town of Burntwood in Staffordshire, where he jammed as a drummer with band Nothing Personal.

Mike Wood, who coordinated the single, posted an advert on Facebook back in April when Stephen first brought the cause of the TCT to the fore. The response to his appeal was “overwhelming”, the 29-year-old said.

“We had so many people that in the end I had to turn musicians away,” said Mike, who plays bass on the 5 minute 25 second recording.

Shane Mason, 19, of Brownhills in the West Midlands, plays piano on the record.

“I was never fortunate enough to meet Stephen, but he was an inspiration,” he said.

“We’ve had the blessing from the family, and both Chris (Stephen’s older brother) and Jane (his mother) came to see us in the studio last week, and are behind us 100%.”

He added: “I was playing piano on the track, and there was a picture of Stephen hanging up on the studio wall above me, where he’s smiling and posing.

“I sort of liked to think he was there with us while we were recording.”

All the proceeds from the sale of the record, which will be released on iTunes and Amazon on Monday, will go to the TCT.

^{A photo of Stephen Sutton stands in Lichfield Cathedral (PA)}

Well-wishers have streamed into the 14th-century cathedral, with many unable to enter the packed building, as an organist played Toccata from Symphony V by French composer Charles Marie Widor.

Before the vigil at began at 7pm on Thursday £20,000 was donated to his JustGiving page in an hour.

Donations were being made at a rate of more than £1,000 an hour to his campaign, which rose from £4.23 million at 7.30pm to £4.24 million by 8pm.

Stephen first started raising money for TCT after he was told his cancer was terminal, prompting him to create a bucket list of 46 “weird and wonderful things” he wanted to do before he died.

^{Another item on Stephen’s bucket list was a lad’s holiday in Ibiza (FILM UNITED)}

His initial target was a modest £10,000 but he increased this to £1 million after donations soared and his appeal attracted the attention of celebrities. He reached his £1 million target after posting a ‘final thumbs up’ selfie when his condition worsened and he went into hospital shortly before his death on May 14.

Opening the ceremony, the Dean of Lichfield, the Very Reverend Adrian Dorber, described Stephen as an “extraordinary example and inspiration” for everyone.

He said: “We have gathered because we don’t want to forget how Stephen has touched so many lives, how his positive attitude turned his own cancer into a force for life.

“We need to remember what Stephen has taught us; not to waste time on his illness, but to grab hold of every single thing that enhances life and makes the world a more joyful place.

“In these next few hours we are trying to do what Stephen did brilliantly, and that is to make the unacceptable meaningful and beautiful.”

He then read the poem “Dust” by Elizabeth Jennings before Julia Hayburn, the assistant head of Stephen’s former school, Chase Terrace Technology College, also paid tribute.

She told of how, when he was diagnosed, the “determined” teenager’s immediate reaction was to call a meeting with teachers because he refused to take doctors’ advice to “forget his Year 11 study”.

Instead he would go on to complete his GCSEs and AS-levels, she added.

“Words like awesome, awe-inspiring and inspirational became synonymous with Stephen – but they only touched the surface of what he has become on a national and international scale,” said Mrs Hayburn.

Following the end of the hour long formal part of the service, the Dean invited the congregation to do five things in turn, including signing the books of condolence and giving the “thumbs-up” sign that has become synonymous with the teenager’s campaign.

Scattered around the church were pictures of Stephen, badges printed with the words “thumbs up for Stephen” and cards telling people where to donate.

^{Stephen Sutton achieved many of his bucket-list wishes and raised millions for cancer research before his death (PA)}

Also on the cards were Stephen’s most famous quote: “I don’t see the point in measuring the worthiness of your life in terms of time, but rather you should measure life in terms of what you achieve.”

Among those attending and giving their thumbs-up were Celia Houghton and her 14-year-old daughter Freya, who had gone to school with Stephen.

The teenager remembered a powerful speech Stephen gave to the school’s assembly a year ago, saying “he was one person who stood out”.

“The one thing that spoke to me was when he said ‘don’t measure time by the clock, measure it by what you do’,” added Freya.

“When he died, people cried at school.

“I remember walking along the corridor and people were using Post-It notes to stick goodbye messages on the wall.”

The teenager’s favourite records – including You’ve Got A Friend In Me, by Randy Newman – were played.

Other songs on the 38 minute compilation including Time To Say Goodbye, by Russell Watson; The Circle Of Life from Disney’s The Lion King; Track Five, by Foo Fighters; Do You Realize, by The Flaming Lips; One Day Like This, by Elbow; I’ll Be Missing You, by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans; You’ll Never Walk Alone and I’ve Had The Time Of My Life, by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes.

A queue of people waiting to pay their respects to the teenager stretched outside Lichfield cathedral and lasted for more than an hour after the Dean concluded his address.

Pamela Milligan, whose daughter attended the same school as Stephen said: “I just think it’s fantastic what he has achieved. The town has come together to pay its respect, it’s covered in yellow. He was an inspiration.”

Peter Robinson, 70, a chartered surveyor said: “He has done a wonderful thing, raising an amazing amount of money, and we wanted to show our respect for what he has achieved.

“We can’t believe how the boy next door can raise £4 million. It’s so moving. The ceremony was very appropriate and absolutely packed out.”

People laid bunches of yellow flowers outside the Cathedral.

One bouquet left by one of the 19-year-old’s former band members held a tribute that said: “Ste, it was a pleasure to share the stage with you. Keep on drumming buddy.”

Another bunch was left by a woman who met Stephen as he worked to reach his first fundraising goal of £10,000 in 2013 and became friends with him in the last year of his life.

Charlotte Aspley, 24, who also raises money for TCT said: “I’m just very sad. He was the most amazing person, the most jolly person I have ever met. When I first met him he was going for his first target of £10,000 and now it’s £4 million.

“He was incredible. He became more and more determined to raise more and more money with every milestone he reached.

“This service would have meant everything to him. He always wanted to get himself out there, to meet people. We are so proud of him, and now we want to keep his work going.”

The teenager documented his battle with cancer on his Facebook page, Stephen’s Story.

^{The funeral cortege of Stephen Sutton arrives at Lichfield Cathedral (GETTY IMAGES)}

More than £25,000 was donated overnight on Wednesday to reach £4 million by Thursday afternoon for Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT).

Simon Fuller, director of services at TCT said: “Stephen’s approach to cancer, indeed his approach to life has inspired and motivated more people than we could ever count.

“There is never a good time to get cancer but for a teenager the timing seems particularly cruel.

“I never cease to be amazed by the courage and resilience that young people find in response to cancer diagnosis.

“His story was not a story about cancer – it was a story about life and living it to the full.

“When I last saw Stephen I asked him if he had any thoughts on where the funds he helped raise should be spent.

“He told me to carry on doing exactly what we are doing. His wishes will be very much honoured.

“We will make sure Stephen and all young people with cancer are never forgotten.

“Stephen asked us to put the fun into fundraising but he didn’t stop there, he wanted us to put the fun into funeral – so we’ve given it a go.

“Stephen’s positivity and quiet determination to achieve something quite profound has brought a sense of perspective and focus to our lives, showing us that even small gestures can have a huge impact.”

The service was due to end at midnight before the cathedral reopens at 7am on Friday before a private family funeral is held in the afternoon.

Donations continued to be made throughout the service and more than 172,000 had pledged money to his campaign by Thursday evening, which will pay for more nurses and beds for other teenagers with cancer.

Evie wrote on his Justgiving page : “Very touched by your journey, your attitude, your positivity, humour and your big wonderful heart. Massive thumbs up for you.”

Toddlr also posted: “Inspirational young man whose legacy will live on through TCT.”

As the ceremony drew to a close in Lichfield more than £30,000 had been donated in five hours – taking the total to more than £4 million.

When Gift Aid is added to the donations, the campaign has raised more than £4.5 million for the charity.

Stephen Sutton vigil: hundreds give "Thumbs Up" as cathedral bells chime

Charity single to be launched in Stephen Sutton"s memory

Supporters, many of whom were wearing yellow ribbons, cheered when the coffin arrived. It was pulled by four white horses with yellow livery and inside a carriage filled with yellow flowers.

His coffin, also white, was followed by his mother Jane, 49, brother Chris, 21, and other family members, all of whom had dressed in bright colours to signify the teenager’s positive approach and his wish before his death ‘to put the fun into funeral.’

The record featuring Stephen has been cut at the Neon Sound Studios in his home town of Burntwood in Staffordshire, where he jammed as a drummer with band Nothing Personal.

Mike Wood, who coordinated the single, posted an advert on Facebook back in April when Stephen first brought the cause of the TCT to the fore. The response to his appeal was “overwhelming”, the 29-year-old said.

“We had so many people that in the end I had to turn musicians away,” said Mike, who plays bass on the 5 minute 25 second recording.

Shane Mason, 19, of Brownhills in the West Midlands, plays piano on the record.

“I was never fortunate enough to meet Stephen, but he was an inspiration,” he said.

“We’ve had the blessing from the family, and both Chris (Stephen’s older brother) and Jane (his mother) came to see us in the studio last week, and are behind us 100%.”

He added: “I was playing piano on the track, and there was a picture of Stephen hanging up on the studio wall above me, where he’s smiling and posing.

“I sort of liked to think he was there with us while we were recording.”

All the proceeds from the sale of the record, which will be released on iTunes and Amazon on Monday, will go to the TCT.

^{A photo of Stephen Sutton stands in Lichfield Cathedral (PA)}

Well-wishers have streamed into the 14th-century cathedral, with many unable to enter the packed building, as an organist played Toccata from Symphony V by French composer Charles Marie Widor.

Before the vigil at began at 7pm £20,000 was donated to his JustGiving page in an hour.

Donations were being made at a rate of more than £1,000 an hour to his campaign, which rose from £4.23 million at 7.30pm to £4.24 million by 8pm.

Stephen first started raising money for TCT after he was told his cancer was terminal, prompting him to create a bucket list of 46 “weird and wonderful things” he wanted to do before he died.

^{Another item on Stephen’s bucket list was a lad’s holiday in Ibiza (FILM UNITED)}

His initial target was a modest £10,000 but he increased this to £1 million after donations soared and his appeal attracted the attention of celebrities. He reached his £1 million target after posting a ‘final thumbs up’ selfie when his condition worsened and he went into hospital shortly before his death on May 14.

Opening the ceremony, the Dean of Lichfield, the Very Reverend Adrian Dorber, described Stephen as an “extraordinary example and inspiration” for everyone.

He said: “We have gathered because we don’t want to forget how Stephen has touched so many lives, how his positive attitude turned his own cancer into a force for life.

“We need to remember what Stephen has taught us; not to waste time on his illness, but to grab hold of every single thing that enhances life and makes the world a more joyful place.

“In these next few hours we are trying to do what Stephen did brilliantly, and that is to make the unacceptable meaningful and beautiful.”

He then read the poem “Dust” by Elizabeth Jennings before Julia Hayburn, the assistant head of Stephen’s former school, Chase Terrace Technology College, also paid tribute.

She told of how, when he was diagnosed, the “determined” teenager’s immediate reaction was to call a meeting with teachers because he refused to take doctors’ advice to “forget his Year 11 study”.

Instead he would go on to complete his GCSEs and AS-levels, she added.

“Words like awesome, awe-inspiring and inspirational became synonymous with Stephen – but they only touched the surface of what he has become on a national and international scale,” said Mrs Hayburn.

Following the end of the hour long formal part of the service, the Dean invited the congregation to do five things in turn, including signing the books of condolence and giving the “thumbs-up” sign that has become synonymous with the teenager’s campaign.

Scattered around the church were pictures of Stephen, badges printed with the words “thumbs up for Stephen” and cards telling people where to donate.

^{Stephen Sutton achieved many of his bucket-list wishes and raised millions for cancer research before his death (PA)}

Also on the cards were Stephen’s most famous quote: “I don’t see the point in measuring the worthiness of your life in terms of time, but rather you should measure life in terms of what you achieve.”

Among those attending and giving their thumbs-up were Celia Houghton and her 14-year-old daughter Freya, who had gone to school with Stephen.

The teenager remembered a powerful speech Stephen gave to the school’s assembly a year ago, saying “he was one person who stood out”.

“The one thing that spoke to me was when he said ‘don’t measure time by the clock, measure it by what you do’,” added Freya.

“When he died, people cried at school.

“I remember walking along the corridor and people were using Post-It notes to stick goodbye messages on the wall.”

The teenager’s favourite records – including You’ve Got A Friend In Me, by Randy Newman – were played.

Other songs on the 38 minute compilation including Time To Say Goodbye, by Russell Watson; The Circle Of Life from Disney’s The Lion King; Track Five, by Foo Fighters; Do You Realize, by The Flaming Lips; One Day Like This, by Elbow; I’ll Be Missing You, by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans; You’ll Never Walk Alone and I’ve Had The Time Of My Life, by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes.

A queue of people waiting to pay their respects to the teenager stretched outside Lichfield cathedral and lasted for more than an hour after the Dean concluded his address.

Pamela Milligan, whose daughter attended the same school as Stephen said: “I just think it’s fantastic what he has achieved. The town has come together to pay its respect, it’s covered in yellow. He was an inspiration.”

Peter Robinson, 70, a chartered surveyor said: “He has done a wonderful thing, raising an amazing amount of money, and we wanted to show our respect for what he has achieved.

“We can’t believe how the boy next door can raise £4 million. It’s so moving. The ceremony was very appropriate and absolutely packed out.”

People laid bunches of yellow flowers outside the Cathedral.

One bouquet left by one of the 19-year-old’s former band members held a tribute that said: “Ste, it was a pleasure to share the stage with you. Keep on drumming buddy.”

Another bunch was left by a woman who met Stephen as he worked to reach his first fundraising goal of £10,000 in 2013 and became friends with him in the last year of his life.

Charlotte Aspley, 24, who also raises money for TCT said: “I’m just very sad. He was the most amazing person, the most jolly person I have ever met. When I first met him he was going for his first target of £10,000 and now it’s £4 million.

“He was incredible. He became more and more determined to raise more and more money with every milestone he reached.

“This service would have meant everything to him. He always wanted to get himself out there, to meet people. We are so proud of him, and now we want to keep his work going.”

The teenager documented his battle with cancer on his Facebook page, Stephen’s Story.

^{The funeral cortege of Stephen Sutton arrives at Lichfield Cathedral (GETTY IMAGES)}

More than £25,000 was donated overnight on Wednesday to reach £4 million by Thursday afternoon for Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT).

Simon Fuller, director of services at TCT said: “Stephen’s approach to cancer, indeed his approach to life has inspired and motivated more people than we could ever count.

“There is never a good time to get cancer but for a teenager the timing seems particularly cruel.

“I never cease to be amazed by the courage and resilience that young people find in response to cancer diagnosis.

“His story was not a story about cancer – it was a story about life and living it to the full.

“When I last saw Stephen I asked him if he had any thoughts on where the funds he helped raise should be spent.

“He told me to carry on doing exactly what we are doing. His wishes will be very much honoured.

“We will make sure Stephen and all young people with cancer are never forgotten.

“Stephen asked us to put the fun into fundraising but he didn’t stop there, he wanted us to put the fun into funeral – so we’ve given it a go.

“Stephen’s positivity and quiet determination to achieve something quite profound has brought a sense of perspective and focus to our lives, showing us that even small gestures can have a huge impact.”

The service was due to end at midnight before the cathedral reopens at 7am on Friday before a private family funeral is held in the afternoon.

Donations continued to be made throughout the service and more than 172,000 had pledged money to his campaign by Thursday evening, which will pay for more nurses and beds for other teenagers with cancer.

Evie wrote on his Justgiving page : “Very touched by your journey, your attitude, your positivity, humour and your big wonderful heart. Massive thumbs up for you.”

Toddlr also posted: “Inspirational young man whose legacy will live on through TCT.”

As the ceremony drew to a close in Lichfield more than £30,000 had been donated in five hours – taking the total to more than £4 million.

When Gift Aid is added to the donations, the campaign has raised more than £4.5 million for the charity.

Charity single to be launched in Stephen Sutton"s memory

Stephen Sutton campaign raises more than £4m as thousands give him "thumbs up"

The teenager’s house town of Burntwood in Staffordshire was awash with yellow ribbons in his memory as cathedral officials confirmed that by midnight no fewer than 7,000 people had been to stand vigil with the coffin.

Supporters, many of whom have been wearing yellow ribbons, cheered when the coffin arrived. It was pulled by four white horses with yellow livery and inside a carriage filled with yellow flowers.

His coffin, also white, was followed by his mother Jane, 49, brother Chris, 21, and other loved ones members, all of whom had dressed in brilliant colours to signify the teenager’s good technique and his wish before his death ‘to put the exciting into funeral.’

Well-wishers streamed into 14th-century cathedral, with numerous unable to enter the packed constructing, as an organist played Toccata from Symphony V by French composer Charles Marie Widor.

^{A photograph of Stephen Sutton stands in Lichfield Cathedral (PA)}

Just before the vigil at started at 7pm £20,000 was donated to his JustGiving page in an hour.

Donations were currently being produced at a charge of far more than £1,000 an hour to his campaign, which rose from £4.23 million at 7.30pm to £4.24 million by 8pm.

Stephen 1st commenced raising funds for TCT soon after he was advised his cancer was terminal, prompting him to create a bucket record of 46 “weird and superb things” he needed to do prior to he died.

^{An additional item on Stephen’s bucket record was a lad’s vacation in Ibiza (Film UNITED)}

His first target was a modest £10,000 but he increased this to £1 million after donations soared and his appeal attracted the consideration of celebrities. He reached his £1 million target after posting a ‘final thumbs up’ selfie when his problem worsened and he went into hospital shortly prior to his death on Might 14.

Opening the ceremony, the Dean of Lichfield, the Really Reverend Adrian Dorber, described Stephen as an “extraordinary instance and inspiration” for absolutely everyone.

He said: “We have gathered simply because we really don’t want to neglect how Stephen has touched so many lives, how his constructive attitude turned his personal cancer into a force for existence.

“We require to don’t forget what Stephen has taught us not to waste time on his sickness, but to grab hold of every single factor that enhances lifestyle and can make the planet a a lot more joyful place.

“In these subsequent number of hours we are striving to do what Stephen did brilliantly, and that is to make the unacceptable meaningful and gorgeous.”

He then go through the poem “Dust” by Elizabeth Jennings just before Julia Hayburn, the assistant head of Stephen’s former school, Chase Terrace Technology University, also paid tribute.

She told of how, when he was diagnosed, the “determined” teenager’s quick response was to get in touch with a meeting with teachers due to the fact he refused to consider doctors’ advice to “forget his Yr 11 research”.

Instead he would go on to comprehensive his GCSEs and AS-ranges, she additional.

“Phrases like amazing, awe-inspiring and inspirational became synonymous with Stephen – but they only touched the surface of what he has turn out to be on a nationwide and global scale,” said Mrs Hayburn.

Following the end of the hour lengthy formal part of the services, the Dean invited the congregation to do 5 things in flip, like signing the books of condolence and offering the “thumbs-up” indicator that has turn out to be synonymous with the teenager’s campaign.

Scattered close to the church have been photos of Stephen, badges printed with the phrases “thumbs up for Stephen” and cards telling people exactly where to donate.

^{Stephen Sutton attained several of his bucket-listing wishes and raised millions for cancer investigation before his death (PA)}

Also on the cards have been Stephen’s most popular quote: “I will not see the stage in measuring the worthiness of your life in terms of time, but rather you should measure life in terms of what you attain.”

Among these attending and giving their thumbs-up were Celia Houghton and her 14-12 months-previous daughter Freya, who had gone to college with Stephen.

The teenager remembered a powerful speech Stephen gave to the school’s assembly a year in the past, saying “he was 1 individual who stood out”.

“The a single thing that spoke to me was when he said ‘don’t measure time by the clock, measure it by what you do’,” additional Freya.

“When he died, individuals cried at college.

“I remember strolling along the corridor and folks were using Post-It notes to stick goodbye messages on the wall.”

The teenager’s favourite records – including You’ve Received A Pal In Me, by Randy Newman – were played.

Other songs on the 38 minute compilation which includes Time To Say Goodbye, by Russell Watson The Circle Of Life from Disney’s The Lion King Track Five, by Foo Fighters Do You Comprehend, by The Flaming Lips One Day Like This, by Elbow I’ll Be Missing You, by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans You may By no means Walk Alone and I’ve Had The Time Of My Lifestyle, by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes.

A queue of men and women waiting to shell out their respects to the teenager stretched outdoors Lichfield cathedral and lasted for more than an hour following the Dean concluded his deal with.

Pamela Milligan, whose daughter attended the identical college as Stephen stated: “I just consider it’s amazing what he has accomplished. The town has come with each other to pay its respect, it is covered in yellow. He was an inspiration.”

Peter Robinson, 70, a chartered surveyor stated: “He has accomplished a superb point, raising an incredible amount of funds, and we needed to demonstrate our respect for what he has accomplished.

“We can not think how the boy following door can increase £4 million. It’s so moving. The ceremony was very suitable and definitely packed out.”

Individuals laid bunches of yellow flowers outside the Cathedral.

One bouquet left by 1 of the 19-year-old’s former band members held a tribute that explained: “Ste, it was a pleasure to share the stage with you. Hold on drumming buddy.”

Another bunch was left by a woman who met Stephen as he worked to attain his very first fundraising objective of £10,000 in 2013 and grew to become pals with him in the last yr of his life.

Charlotte Aspley, 24, who also raises cash for TCT explained: “I’m just quite unhappy. He was the most incredible man or woman, the most jolly particular person I have ever met. When I first met him he was going for his very first target of £10,000 and now it’s £4 million.

“He was extraordinary. He grew to become a lot more and much more determined to raise far more and much more income with each and every milestone he reached.

“This support would have meant every thing to him. He usually wanted to get himself out there, to meet folks. We are so proud of him, and now we want to hold his operate going.”

The teenager documented his battle with cancer on his Facebook webpage, Stephen’s Story.

^{The funeral cortege of Stephen Sutton arrives at Lichfield Cathedral (GETTY Photos)}

A lot more than £25,000 was donated overnight on Wednesday to attain £4 million by Thursday afternoon for Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT).

Simon Fuller, director of companies at TCT said: “Stephen’s approach to cancer, certainly his method to daily life has inspired and motivated much more folks than we could ever count.

“There is never ever a good time to get cancer but for a teenager the timing looks especially cruel.

“I by no means cease to be amazed by the courage and resilience that youthful men and women uncover in response to cancer diagnosis.

“His story was not a story about cancer – it was a story about daily life and living it to the full.

“When I final noticed Stephen I asked him if he had any ideas on the place the funds he helped increase need to be invested.

“He told me to carry on carrying out exactly what we are undertaking. His wishes will be really considerably honoured.

“We will make certain Stephen and all young individuals with cancer are by no means forgotten.

“Stephen asked us to put the exciting into fundraising but he did not quit there, he desired us to put the exciting into funeral – so we’ve offered it a go.

“Stephen’s positivity and quiet determination to attain anything really profound has brought a sense of viewpoint and focus to our lives, showing us that even tiny gestures can have a large affect.”

The services was due to end at midnight prior to the cathedral reopens at 7am on Friday prior to a private family funeral is held in the afternoon.

Donations continued to be created throughout the services and far more than 172,000 had pledged money to his campaign by Thursday evening, which will shell out for much more nurses and beds for other teenagers with cancer.

Evie wrote on his Justgiving page : “Very touched by your journey, your mindset, your positivity, humour and your large superb heart. Huge thumbs up for you.”

Toddlr also posted: “Inspirational young man whose legacy will live on via TCT.”

As the ceremony drew to a near in Lichfield a lot more than £30,000 had been donated in five hrs – taking the total to more than £4 million.

When Gift Help is additional to the donations, the campaign has raised a lot more than £4.5 million for the charity.

Stephen Sutton campaign raises more than £4m as thousands give him "thumbs up"