Dear Atria,
As you probably know from the News, Stephen Sutton passed away today, aged 19. I am very saddened by this news. Describing this young man as an inspiration is an understatment. I cannot find the right words to tell you about this increadible human being, an exaple to follow for all of us. I don't know how much you know about Stephen's story, but you can find out more on Stephen's Facebook page or on his website stephensstory.co.uk

Stephen Sutton has been battling cancer since the age of 15. On January 13th 2013, shortly after finding out his disease was incurable, Stephen made a Facebook page called “Stephen’s Story”. On the page he outlined a bucketlist of 46 things he wanted to achieve in the near future. Since creating the page Stephen’s following has grown exponentially and he has inspired thousands of others with his positivity and passion for life. He has achieved more than most would in a lifetime; resulting in him winning countless awards in recognition of his inspirational work, taking part in a Guinness world record, and most notably he has raised over £3 million for charity in just over a year. This is not a sob story, this is Stephen’s Story!

This is what he said on his Facebook page just on the 8th May:

"For a while now, I’ve always viewed “Stephen’s Story” as a platform that I can use to try and spread as much positivity and empowerment as possible from. I’ve always described my cancer as a kick up the backside that has taught me some good life lessons, so I guess the aim has just been trying to pass those lessons and motivation I’ve gained on to others.

I’ve got lots of people asking how they can help ‘me’ personally and the answer is… I’m not quite sure, I’m really quite happy with things at the moment. The support I have is absolute immense and is hugely appreciated. Realistically though, the support I’ve got is probably a bit inflated relative to what I deserve. What I mean is that there are other young people out there with cancer who are battling as hard as me who deserve similar support, in fact there’s other people battling other illnesses too, and then there’s other people who may need support for whatever reason. 

I’ve had lots of people asking me about the bucketlist and generously offering to help me tick items off it, but for a long time now the list has took a bit of a backseat- I’m quite content whether I tick another thing off it or not you see.

I’m not quite sure where this status is going now. I guess I just want to outline and reiterate that the goal of this page for all the new people who have started following recently. All the updates will still be from me and relating to my journey; whether it be some motivational thoughts (I’ll try not to be too preachy haha), updates about fundraising events I’ve organised or am organising, a particular campaign etc, or just anything I think may be cool or useful to share. Underlying everything though will be the goal of helping others, as I find it very rewarding and fulfilling "

And that's what Stephen said about his cancer:

"I was first diagnosed with bowel cancer in September 2010. I then have had periods of remission and relapse, before doctors eventually described my disease as incurable in November 2012. Throughout this time I have underwent all manner of treatments (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, etc) that have helped treat and prolong my life. The spread of my disease since has been steady and quite unique; I actually I see myself as very fortunate- despite being incurable for a while I have had a sustained period of very good health where I was able to go out and enjoy things thoroughly, which I did (check outhttp://stephensstory.co.uk/timeline/).

But, my disease is still here and still growing- for example, for a while tumours have meant my left leg is now useless and I rely on crutches to mobilise, and I am also on morphine and other nerve pain meds 24/7. Recently, more and more things have started going wrong with my body and it’s clear we are now facing a new stage of the ‘journey’.

Every cancer journey is different, but I’ve always thought an advantage of mine was that it should be pretty predictable- i.e. cancer is pretty slow growing; I don’t suddenly wake up one day feeling extra ‘tumoury’!! In terms of coping, this helps me hugely. The recent period in hospital I’ve had though, and the acuteness and speed my problems came on, show just how fragile my health still is, or rather how brutal cancer can still be. 

The recovery I’ve made is quite miraculous; I can barely believe it myself. It really was touch and go on a few occasions, but somehow I managed to hang in there. After coughing up a tumour (which I’ll admit sounds completely farfetched!), symptomatically and clinically I have been very healthy- and there’s no reason that shouldn’t continue for a while.

For how long, we don’t really know. I see my professor next Friday where we will have a good ol chat about the whole situation and future plans.

Ultimately, there is no miracle cure for me. I am potentially the most positive and optimistic person in the world, but we have to be realistic with what we are up against. My disease is very advanced and will get me eventually, but I will try my damn hardest to be here as long as possible. I haven’t died yet, the journey continues, so I guess I’m needed a bit longer

Stephen's 'thumbs up' farewell mesage reads:

It's a final thumbs up from me! I've done well to blag things as well as I have up till now, but unfortunately I think this is just one hurdle too far.

It's a shame the end has come so suddenly- there's so many people I haven't got round to properly thank or say goodbye too. Apologies for that.

There was also so many exciting projects and things I didn't get to see out. Hopefully some will continue and if you want to carry on the fundraising please do (justgiving.com/stephen-sutton-TCT
is the link to donate to).

All future updates on this page will probably be from a family member. I hopefully may have the energy to write a few tweets (@_StephensStory). I will continue fighting for as long as I can, and whatever happens next I want you all to know I am currently in a good place mentally and at ease with the situation.

That's it from me. But life has been good. Very good. 

Thank you to my mum and the rest of my family for everything. Thank you to my friends for being amazing. Thank you to my medical team for the hard work and effort they've continually they've put towards me. And thank you everyone else for sharing this wonderful journey with me.

I love you all  x

I don't know what more can I say, dear Atria... You can read Stephen Sutton's increadible journey in his own worlds on his website. He touched many people, he inspired milions and he raised over £3 milion for a Charity to help others suffering from cancer. Such a short life but how meaningfull! He won't be forgotten; his legacy will stay with us.

Life is not measured in time. It is measured in achievements. 

You would know that they are very social animals and they live in groups and that every member of the group has a different role. A few will typically serve as lookouts, watching the skies for birds of prey, such as hawks and eagles, that can snatch them from the ground. A sharp, shrill call is the signal for all to take cover. In captivity there aren’t obviously any predators to endanger meerkats, so their behaviour has changed and certainly they will not watch the skies as much as in the wild. Still, when you go to Safari Park or ZOO with an open air meerkat enclosure, you will see one or two of them standing on their rear legs and gazing alertly into the skies.

While a few individuals guard the group, the rest busy themselves foraging for the foods. Meerkats will eat insects, lizards, birds, and fruit. Meerkat groups utilize several different burrows and move from one to another. Each burrow is an extensive tunnel-and-room system that remains cool even under the sun. Females give birth to two to four young each year in one of the group’s burrows. Fathers and siblings help to raise meerkat young, teaching them to play and forage and alerting them to the ever present danger from above.

So, what was my meerkat encounter experience? Well, it was an one hour meeting with a group of meerkats and their keeper. When we arrived, we were divided into groups of four people. Each group was assigned a different keeper and each keeper took their group to a different meerkat enclosure. I went to meet three meerkats living in an indoor enclosure. We went inside their ‘house’. The keeper introduced each meerkat to us, told us a little about each of them and we just kept chatting, asking questions and enjoying their furry company. They were used to people, so they were just walking around, smelling us and carrying on with their normal activities. The keeper gave us some fruits to feed the meerkats and explained that in the wild they mainly eat insects, but in captivity they are being fed with fruits and just a small portion of worms. Apparently worms provide a lot of nutritions and as meerkats in captivity don’t need to hunt and they are not as active as in the wild, they don’t need that much energy. Eating just worms would cause them to gain weight, which is never good for any creature’s health. So, we were giving them fruits (bananas, oranges, grapes, apples) and they were just taking them with their little claws and nibbling a bit. They are clever creatures however, so they knew that if they don’t eat their fruits, they will get some worms! After a small nibble they rejected the rest of the fruits and the keeper told us that this is about the time to give them some worms. He asked us to put couple of worms on the palm of our hand and lower the hand quickly to the ground, so meerkats can reach the food. Well, I have to tell you dear Atria, they love their worms! Sometimes I couldn’t lower my hand fast enough and the meerkats were already jumping on me to get the worms. They are very lively and active creatures, but the speed they were picking up the worms from our hands was incredible! When the worms ration finished meerkats started eating their fruits again - very clever.

The whole feeding experience took half an hour and after that, we were taken to a different building with just a two very friendly meerkats. We sat down on the chairs and the keepers were handing the meerkats to us. The two meerkats were brothers and they were accustomed to being handled, stroked and cuddled by people. They were actually raised by a private breeder and then sold to the Hoo Farm. They were very lively and so cute. You can see in the pictures that they were walking all over me :-) I have some videos as well and I will post them for you later.  One interesting thing I learned was that a meerkat probably won’t survive on its own. They are very social animals and they have to live in groups of at least two meerkats. A single meerkat would feel very lonely and would most likely become sick from sadness and could suffer from heart attack - all due to its loneliness. That was an interesting new fact I learned.

The whole experience was wonderful, meerkats were as cute as ever and the keepers were very knowledgeable, open, friendly and responsive. I very much enjoyed my birthday present.

Here you can learn a bit more about the meerkat encounter experience.