Stephen Sutton: Celebrities support #ThumbsUpFor campaign as donations approach £2 million mark

Jason Manford, Russell Brand and Chris Hoy amongst celebrities to show support

Dozens of celebrities have got behind a terminally-ill teenager who has already raised more than £1 million for charity, by posting supportive selfies across social media sites.

The campaign, which began after Jason Manford posted the first “thumbs up” fundraising plea calling on his followers to donate Stephen Sutton’s Just Giving page, has gathered pace over the last 24 hours and can now list a number of celebrity names as supporters.

The terminally-ill teenager, who has been suffering from colorectal cancer since the age of 15, started out with the goal of raising £10,000 for The teenage Cancer Trust but has seen the amount of money raised surpass the £1.5 million mark in the past couple of days.

Comedians Jack Whitehall, Steve Coogan and John Bishop all followed Manford’s lead posting pictures of them with their thumbs up and written messages of support.

Amongst the other high profile names to get involved were Olympic Gold medallist Chris Hoy, new boyband The Vamps and actor Russell Brand.

It is hoped that the celebrity support will be able to propel the amount of money raised for The Teenager Cancer Trust past £2 million.

The #thumbsup is in relation to a post on Stephen’s Facebook page yesterday in which he wrote an emotional message saying that this would be his “final thumbs up.”

The celebrity outpouring of support, follows comments from The Teenage Cancer Trust saying that the money will be “enormous” for the charity and the level of donations from the public has been “hugely touching.”

Speaking to the BBC Kate Collins a director at the charity said: "It's enormous for the Teenage Cancer Trust. We're a small charity, the only charity that helps children aged between 13 and 24 years old."

"Stephen is making the most transformational difference for us. It's very hard to talk about the scale of difference his money is going to make."

After reaching the million pound mark on Tuesday Stephen hit twitter, posting “Wow. Just wow. The whole situation is breathtaking!!”