A teen who lost his leg when a lump that formed after a rugby tackle turned out to be cancer said he has learned to “stay positive” despite his ordeal.
Oliver Liddle, 19, had his leg amputated after finding aggressive bone cancer in his leg.
Mr Liddle, a gym instructor from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, enjoyed playing sport throughout his childhood - but aged 12 a tackle on the rugby pitch left him with a pain in his leg.
The pain didn’t go away for a week - and then a lump on his knee began to appear.
Mr Liddle, who lives with his father, Steve, 49, stepmother Abby, 42, brother Max, 22, and stepbrother Louis, 10, said he originally thought he could “run it off.”
However, he was later diagnosed with bone cancer and embarked on a nine-month course of chemotherapy.
Mr Liddle was then given two options. Remove the cancer with reconstructive surgery which would stunt his growth or amputation. He bravely chose the latter.
But he remained determined to run again and return to the sports he loves.
After working hard to regain strength and muscle at the gym, Mr Liddle won gold at the British Championships of Para Powerlifting in 2021 at the age of 16 before going on to secure bronze at the World Championships in Georgia the same year.
Now, in a bid to mentor other young people who have lost a limb during their return to sports, Mr Liddle has become a qualified gym instructor and launched his own fitness business, named Unlimbited, in 2023.
“Never give up, that’s something I’ve always told myself no matter how hard it gets,” he told PA Real Life.
“No matter what life throws at you, stay positive, stay determined and don’t let it get you down too much.”
Mr Liddle also spoke about his mother, Kerrie, who died from breast cancer aged 42 when he was just seven years old.
“She’s a massive motivation to me now, everything I do is in respect for her and I want to honour her memory,” he said.
Mr Liddle was playing a match with his local team, Rockcliff Rugby Club, when he first felt the pain in his leg.
“I landed on my right knee, I thought, ‘I’ll just run it off’, but it didn’t go away,” he said.
“I noticed there was a lump starting to form as well.”
Mr Liddle was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in his right leg, saying the “aggressive” cancer was at the top of his tibia and fibula where it later spread towards his lower leg and knee.
Upon receiving his diagnosis, Liddle said he thought “why would this happen?”.
“We had already been hit with a curve ball with my mum passing, I thought why should I get this now?” he said.
He pressed on with treatment however, undergoing a nine-month course of intensive chemotherapy – but after the first four months, he was presented with a decision to save his life.
“The cancer was very aggressive, my consultants told me that they needed to act fast to either get rid of the limb or extract the cancer,” he said.
The first option was an above-the-knee amputation, and the second was an operation to remove the cancer from his leg followed by reconstructive surgery to place a metal pin in his knee, which would stunt his growth.
“I would be stuck at five foot nothing for forever,” he said.
“The only positive from it would be that it would salvage the leg.”
At the age of 13, Mr Liddle decided to opt for amputation and he spent a few days in the intensive care unit before being sent home to rest.
“It was weird looking at myself in the mirror, I got some phantom pain but otherwise I was in high spirits as the cancer was gone,” he said.
He continued the rest of his chemotherapy treatment and he was given the all-clear in February 2019.
On his inspirational journey, Mr Liddle said: “I wanted to be that person who can say to others, ‘it’s not the end, you can still train, you can still focus on your goals, you can keep going’.”
