'I raised thousands for my school friend with cancer'

"I was always questioning myself, like 'what is your why?', and Ollie definitely kept popping up in my mind and made me realise what I was doing."

In the past year, Hugo Turpin, from Oxfordshire, has completed a marathon, ultramarathon and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, all inspired by a childhood friend who lost his leg to a rare form of cancer.

Olly Foster was first diagnosed at the age of 10 with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of soft tissue cancer, and was supported by the charity Sarcoma UK.

Following a re-diagnosis in 2025, the then 18-year-old was forced to undergo two rounds of intensive chemotherapy, followed by a a below-knee amputation.

His friend Turpin has since taken on a trio of epic challenges and has raised more than £25,000 for the charity, which helped Foster and his family through his battle.

"It was such a long time ago and I just think I couldn't really understand what it fully meant," Foster said of his first Sarcoma diagnosis.

"Obviously, it was very difficult for the family but I remember it wasn't really too difficult for me at the time as, at that point, it wasn't life-changing or threatening."

But last year, after being cancer-free for eight years, Foster said he had been playing rugby when he "realised the pain had come back after someone stepped on my foot".

"That's when they discovered there were two relatively big tumours in my ankle again," the now 19-year-old said.

Aged 18, Foster had to undergo two rounds of chemotherapy before being told by doctors that his leg would need to amputated below the knee.

"It was really difficult," he said, particularly focusing on a two-month period after the amputation when he was waiting to be fitted with a prosthetic leg.

He added: "Being an 18-year-old, I'm used to hanging out with my friends, playing sport... it was life-changing.

"But being surrounded by my friends and my family definitely helped me through the changes."

One of those friends was Turpin, who said the pair had "always just clicked" after first meeting in preschool.

It was while Foster lay in hospital that his friend called him up with an idea.

"I was really keen on doing a marathon and then I was sort of thinking, 'is there anything else I'd want to do this year?'x, and I thought Kilimanjaro would be really cool.

"Then the ultra marathon really was something that was able to tie it all together.

"I thought I should probably raise some money and obviously Olly's story quickly crossed my mind, just what he's been through and what he was still going through at the time."

The pair spoke about the potential fundraiser, with Foster asking Turpin to use the challenges to raise money for the charity Sarcoma UK.

"There's a helpline that I have called a couple times that's purely confidential and you ask any questions or just talk about it, that definitely helped out a lot," Foster said.

Over spring, Turpin, who lives near Chipping Norton, completed his trio of epic challenges.

He began with the Stockholm Marathon in May, before climbing Africa's highest peak - Mt Kilimanjaro the following week.

The fundraisers were completed in June, as he completed a 96-mile (155km) ultramarathon across England, all on a route taking in landmarks from his life.

During the challenges, Turpin said: "Constantly, Olly's story cropped up in my mind.

"It really gave me that push."

He has now raised more than £25,000 for Sarcoma UK through his exploits.

"I just don't know how words could describe it," Foster said.

"I really didn't think anyone, especially so close to me, would do that... and raise such an insane amount of money towards the charity."