BRITISH teenage cancer victim Stephen Sutton has been honoured with an MBE in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours, just weeks after losing his fight against the disease.
THE 19-year-old, who accepted the honour before his death on May 14, is joined in the latest round of honours by A-lister Angelina Jolie, who receives an honorary damehood for her work to fight sexual violence.
Jolie, who has been co-chairing the End Sexual Violence in Conflict (ESVC) global summit with Foreign Secretary William Hague in London this week, is recognised in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas Birthday 2014 Honours list, for exceptional service to Britain overseas. The pair are among more than 1100 people recognised in the latest honours, announced on Saturday. Stephen’s MBE is backdated to the date of his death in May, which touched millions and resulted in a huge boost in donations to the Teenage Cancer Trust. His mother, Jane, said on Saturday that although he always said he did not want recognition for his charity work, even he acknowledged that to receive an MBE was “awesome” and definitely gave it his trademark “thumbs up”. The teenager, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer at 15, became a household name as he helped raise STG4 million ($A7.30 million) for the fight against cancer, staying positive throughout his illness despite his impending death. Sutton said: “Shortly before Stephen passed away on May 14 he received a letter from the Cabinet Office asking if he was agreeable to accepting an MBE in recognition of his fundraising and services to the Teenage Cancer Trust. “He thought it was an incredible honour to have been nominated and it definitely got the ‘thumbs up’.” She said the honour was a “wonderful recognition” of her son’s charity work and would help promote the legacy of his Facebook page “Stephen’s Story”.