Hi, my name is Ben.

Since late July, I had been experiencing intermittent but slowly worsening pain in my ankle. I had constantly chalked it up to over use from getting back into running.

However, after a week-long hiking trip in the Lake District in early October, I had badly injured my ankle, and after a few weeks it was still getting worse to the point I was limping.

I finally put on my big boy pants and booked a GP appointment for after my trip to Lisbon. I was still blissfuly unaware that I had cancer. I thought I had just fractured or dislocated my ankle.

On the 14/11/2025 I visited the GP, they agreed something didn't look quite right either. An X-Ray was scheduled for the 16/11/2025.

The next week comes around and I receive a call from my GP on Tuesday whilst at the pub celebrating another university day completed. I was told I needed to go straight to Basingstoke North and Hampshire Hospitals Fracture Clinic first thing the next day. I thought I'd finally got to the bottom of my ankle pains and I'd in a cast and crutches for 6 months (I had another couple of pints to celebrate).

On the 19/11/2025 is where it all went a bit t*ts up. I visited Basingstoke at 10am and was rushed to the MRI machine and spent 2 hours listening to Katy Perry whilst they scanned me.

After a bit of waiting I was sat down in a private room with a worried looking Consultant and Registrar who explained they'd found a tumour in my right distal tibia and it was likely cancerous). The news was a bit unexpected to say the least. I was advised the tumour was still contained within the bone but had actually taken over the bottom end of my tibia and it was in danger of breaking if I didn't protect it. The consultant advised that my life was about to change for the foreseeable and I would definitely require some sort of surgery. I then completed a CT scan (to check for cancer spread) and blood tests I was sent home in an Aircast boot, crutches and a month-long supply of blood thinning injections (I don't miss these).

The next Monday I received a call from the Oxford Sarcoma Unit, within 3 hours I was in Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre meeting the Sarcoma consultant. They explained that my tumour was more than likely an Osteosarcoma and amputation was a real possibility. She explained the tumour had essentially taken over the entirety of the bottom end of my tibia and was now growing upwards and outwards.

During this visit I also had more blood tests and a biopsy of my tumour. The biopsy I had involved essentially manually drilling samples of my malfunctioning bone out of me. It was incredibly painful due to my tumour not playing ball and giving only fragmented amounts of material to study. I quickly found out local anaesthetic is not very powerful and certain words were shouted during the procedure.

A week later, back in Oxford. I received my official diagnosis - Localised small cell osteosarcoma, this bone cancer is one of the rarest (1%-2% diagnosed a year) and most aggressive subtypes of bone cancers that we know of - JUST MY LUCK!

On the 15/12/2025 I began my intensive regime of chemotherapy treatment at University of Southampton Hospital in the Teenage & Young Adult ward.

Unfortunately I will require a minimum of 6 cycles or 30 weeks of this regime. With 2 cycles now under my belt, I must say the cancer specialists were right in warning me that bone cancer chemotherapy is the most mentally and physically difficult thing someone might ever face.

I'm incredibly lucky to be receiving amazing care and support from the NHS, charities, family, friends and everyone inbetween.

As a typical 22 year old with no previous worries or experiences with prosthetics or disabilities in general. I hadn't realised, just how expensive a good prosthetic leg is! As well as the costs disabled people face everyday. As I hope to continue my somewhat active lifestyle (with a few pub trips) post cancer, I've setup this a GoFundMe to help financially support myself and my family in affording new legs and to help me get back on my feet, and assist with my new normal. Any donations will go towards helping me purchase high-quality prosthetics for every day use and hopefully a running blade in the future, as I'm not going to let a minor loss of a leg get in the way of walking. Any donation or sharing of the page is massively appreciated. Please don't feel pressured to donate.

Most importantly though, if something doesn't feel right. Go and see your GP.

Kind Regards,

Ben