Scientist dying of cancer sparks outpouring of sympathy after saying he has days to live

A scientist with cancer has caused a huge outpouring of emotion after tweeting that he only has days to live.

There was a wave of sympathy on Twitter after Mark Stokes, a neuroscience professor at the University of Oxford, told his followers he was going to die after battling the disease.

Prof Stokes, a father thought to be in his early 40s, tweeted on Sunday morning: "Hi folks, I’m afraid it’s time for me to say goodbye.

"Not just leaving Twitter, but the whole show. I’ve been battling cancer last two years, but now only have a few days left now.

"Thank you wonderful people, I leave this crazy world with much love in my heart."

His tweet has more than 654,000 likes on Twitter and has been retweeted more than 27,000 times.

Among those to respond was US journalist and TV presenter Katie Couric, who has 1.6m followers and wrote: "Thank you for sharing your journey and for reminding us of our common humanity.

"Wishing you peace and deliverance. And that you are surrounded by love."

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One Twitter user, Bridget Chapman, posted: "A Twitter stranger here. I wanted to say that your message popped up on my timeline and stopped me in my tracks.

"I hope the rest of your time here is peaceful and surrounded by love. I see that many others people wish the same. I hope you know how many you have touched."

Another user, @jollynony, wrote: "I join the hundreds of thousands who have been touched by the power in your words to say thank you for this gift of strength that you have turned your last days into.

"May you find peace. May your family find comfort. Thank you and goodbye."

Twitter user Anthony M posted: "I don't know who you are and this tweet popped up on my feed.

"All I can say is that your message is powerful that you seem stoic towards your own death.

"May your legacy be passed down to your children and the next generation, and I hope your family find peace going forward."

A number of users with their own experiences of grief and cancer tweeted messages of goodwill towards Prof Stokes.

Mark Wright wrote: "Mark, my three sons and I don't know you, but we send you and your family all our love.

"We lost my wife/their mother Emmanuelle to ovarian cancer on Sunday 6 November, so our hearts and souls are with you and your loved ones this week."

In 2003, Prof Stokes graduated from the University of Melbourne before moving to the UK in 2004 for a PhD at the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge.

In 2012, he was awarded a fellowship with the title of university research lecturer at St John's College, Oxford.

Prof Stokes shared his research on the neuroscience blog, The Brain Box.

At the beginning of this year, Prof Stokes had tweeted: "Happy 2022 everyone!

"This year will be especially significant for me. In 2020 I was diagnosed with cancer. Prognosis not very promising.

"After six months treatment, things started to look up, but by the end of 2021 cancer came back. Now restarted chemo and planning to make very most of 2022."