Story
The funds raised will be dedicated to the memory Matthew Stein, who died on 29 October 2012. In February 2006 Matthew was a perfectly normal 14 year old lad, when he contracted an unidentified infection which caused his lungs to deterioriate. In March 2007 he was given a lung transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital in a successful operation carried out by tremendously skilled team. This success gave him had nearly five years of fun, many proud achievements and an infectious way of drawing others into his entrepreneurial schemes. This was despite living with the knowledge that the average life expectancy of a a lung transplantee is around five years. At the end of 2011 his lungs began to show signs of deterioration and after a steady decline in his lung function on 29 October at 6pm he passed away.He died in his own bed, with his parents and two sisters holding his hand.
At Matt's funeral his friend Nathan Riddell descibed Matt as being the same person right up until his last day. These were profound and accurate words - somehow, despite pain and loss of mobility, Matt managed to carry on being the same creative, fun, mentally agile person and for this alone we are tremendously proud of him.
During his life Matt raised considerable sums for GOSH and so its right that we should carry on with his mission. He wanted to ensure that future transplantees would have a longer life expectancy than he did and so this fund will be specifically directed to fund research in the transplant unit.
His friend Ben Clynes at York University is also raising money for Matt through sponsorship of a marathon swimming event which you will also find on the Just Giving website - you can give to either fund as it will all go the same place.