Liam's story

Teacher Liam Harrison, 33, from Oxford tells how his sarcoma was discovered by chance. He is now based in San Sebastian, Spain.

In 2006, Liam Harrison was playing football when he suffered a hip injury. He assumed he’d tweaked a muscle. Although he had a slight limp, he hoped the pain would soon ease.

That August he went to a barbecue where his friend Ben playfully launched into him with a rugby tackle, knocking him over. Liam couldn’t stand up afterwards and went to hospital where an x-ray suggested something serious. After more tests he was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma — the most common type of bone sarcoma — in his hip.

“Up until I was told I had a sarcoma, I’d never heard of it,” says Liam.

Within two weeks, the hip joint which had been damaged by the sarcoma was removed and replaced by a prosthetic hip joint. Liam’s made a full recovery. “When I’m back in England and see Ben, I joke that what he did might have saved my life,” says Liam.