This is probably one of them articles where people will read it and think "omg, you're so wrong for saying this, he's dying..." etc, but, it has to be said, i'm sickend by society at the moment.
Most reading this will have heard of the "stephen's story", which is based upon a man who's losing his fight against cancer. At some point he's set up a bucket list of things to do before his end comes, which is fine. One of his things was to raise £10,000 for a cancer charity. It was on his bucket list and fund raising had been going not too bad, but for some reason (more than likely the fact he's dying) it was picked up by a few celebs who tweeted about it and asked people to donate, which of course their fans would do aswel as passing on the info to other people. Within a few days, it's like his story has gone viral and today, his fund raising has reached just over £2.5 million.
Now, this is all well and good, but let me ask something.... would he have raised as much if he wasn't dying? The truthful answer is, no. But, because there's a sad story with it, people will hand over their cash. Now don't get me wrong, it's nothing new for this to happen, i mean, even tv shows cash in on the sob storys these days. Infact, i think you have to be auditioning for a dying person to get on the x-factor and do well these days, or somebody has to have died in your life at some point for you to be able to make the finals on 'got talent.
Let me explain something to you though.
Stephen's story isn't anything new, cancer is still a big killer. Treatment is expensive at best and the cure rates while going up, are still not at 100%. While we can throw all the money we have at possible cancer cures, were ignoring the other costs related to cancer treatment that are not coverd by the NHS in the UK.
Take for example a case that i've worked on fundraising for, Millie-Rose.
Millie-rose hadn't long celebrated her first birthday when she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, which is basically a very agressive form of cancer. Only basic treatment for this is available through healthcare providers in the UK, but, an operation is available for her (provided she can make the journey) in germany. To do this, the family have to pay for everything. Flights, hotels, meetings, the operation, pre-op's, post op's, follow up appointments.... everything. I believe when they first looked into this the case was looking to cost around the £1 million mark.
The local community rallied together, putting on fund raising events, car washes, car boot sales, raffles... you name it, it's been done and then some more. However, to this day, the money still hasn't been anywhere near what is needed to get this proceedure carried out. Some charities have stepped forward and said if X amount can be raised then they will cover X amount and all that jazz, but even with that... it's not enough.
So can you imagine how i feel at the moment. Without meaning to sound rude or disrespectful, you have Stephen, who as sad as it is, has come to terms with his battle against cancer being almost over and it being that the cancer has won. On the other hand, you have Millie-Rose who is turning 3 this year, possibly her whole life ahead of her and yet the money needed doesn't exist. The charity that Stephen is fundraising for.... they don't cover costs for the likes of Millie to have her operation in other countries.
With Millie, although the fundraising carries on, the money Stephen is raising, could be spent elsewhere, giving people the fighting chance that they need.
So, if you want to donate to Millie-Rose's case, you can find all of the details on the facebook page, click here to be taken to the page.
But if anything, i hope this has given you food for thought. I'm not against dying people raising money, but i am against money of this scale being given to a charity, while others could be using the money to give them a fighting chance. It's like to some that Stephen is the only person who's dying of cancer at the moment and that's all that matters, the truth is, other's are dying too, and they need your money more.
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ReplyDeleteI think you're thinking about this all wrong. Whilst I'm sorry to hear about Millie, and yes there are tragedies in this World that are hard to comprehend, we shouldn't stomp on someone doing well because others are suffering. The fundraising Stephen is doing wouldn't simply be spent on others, this isn't money ear-marked by people for charity. This is a story they've felt moved by, so they donated, not just because he's dying, but because of the things he has done and how he has treated the life he has. He isn't raising this money for himself, he knows he'll never be around to see anyone spend it, he's raising it for every teenager with cancer.
ReplyDeleteI love that the local community rallied together for Millie, that is fantastic, but what you're doing right now, is wrong. You are not only piggy-backing someones amazing triumph (bearing in mind, he may read this, if he has the strength, and how does that make you feel?), but you're putting it down too, and possibly even making him feel guilty for not helping this poor girl.
Overall, the title of this blog is wrong, people aren't giving for death, they're giving to help teenage cancer sufferers.
I hope at least you'll give a second thought to helping raise awareness to help Millie another way, as this isn't fair one her.
So with what you're saying, if Stephen didn't have cancer, but had lead the same life, he'd have still been raising over £2.5 million as we speak?
DeleteNo, the truth of it is, is that they're donating to him because he's dying, it might well be sad, but it's true. As said in the blog im not against him raising the money at all, thats not the issue here, the issue i have is that people wouldn't have given the money had he not be dying, and where people are giving what they can to his cause, they're not giving to other causes out there, where time is running out.
The charity he's raising money for, as all charities do, have admin fee's and proceedures which can often add a delay onto people getting money raised for the charity in question, again, time is of the essence in the battle against cancer.
You haven't done your cause any good at all. When people give, it's a good thing, no matter whether or not you agree with their motivation. The fact that you haven't found a way to raise the money Millie needs is sad, but you shouldn't disrespect the selfless deeds of someone else, cancer or not.
ReplyDelete... and i haven't, i've simply said people are giving because he's dying. If he was in perfect health, people wouldn't have donated.
DeleteThe simple fact here is... unless people know these stories they cant act. Stephens Story has inspired people this week.. that's why they have been donating.. and yes.. also because he is dying and they want to grant a remarkable young lad one of his wishes. Is that so bad.. No. You are forgetting that people are giving to the teenage cancer trust charity and not to Stephen himself.. so they are giving to 'other causes'.
ReplyDeleteIts pretty sad that you have had to promote Millie's cause in such a negative way.. People have been donating because they felt inspired by Stephen's story... it now seems like you want them all to feel guilty for giving what they can.
I haven't represented anybody's story in a bad light here, i just fail to understand why celebs have picked up on stephen's story and not other cancer victims who's dying wish is to raise money either for their own cause or a charity.
DeleteI'm fully aware that people are not donating to stephen and are donating to a cancer charity that doesn't help with costs of cancer treatment for the likes of millie in other countries, thats fine, but it is having an impact on causes like millie's, because people feel they've already donated all they want to, to charity, because of stephens story, and yet Millie's future isn't look great.