When his close friend was diagnosed with a rare sarcoma cancer, Chris Stell didn’t hesitate: he got in the car and drove 150 miles to take him to hospital. Now, with Mark Ashford given the all-clear, the pair are cycling the length of Britain together to fund research into the disease.
Mark and Chris have played together in a classical guitar quartet for 20 years, part of a friendship stretching back more than three decades to their days at the Royal Academy of Music in London. But it was in 2024 that friendship was tested in a way neither could have predicted, when Mark was diagnosed with a rare sarcoma cancer.
Chris didn’t think twice. Despite living 150 miles away in South London, he regularly made the drive to Mark’s home near Market Harborough in Leicestershire to take him to hospital appointments in Nottingham, seeing his friend’s recovery up close in a way few others did.
Now cancer-free, Mark is repaying that support in the most fitting way he can: by getting back on a bike. This time, though, he’ll have Chris riding alongside him. On 30 August, the two men will set off from Land’s End on a 1,000-mile, nine-day cycle to John O’Groats, raising money for Sarcoma UK, the charity that supported Mark through his diagnosis and treatment.
Mark was diagnosed with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma in January 2024. It was in 2023 that he had noticed a seemingly harmless lump on his back. Multiple medical professionals initially diagnosed the growth as a lipoma – a benign fatty tissue.
It took seven months for Mark to receive a correct diagnosis. The last of three operations was in January 2025 following a recurrence of his sarcoma and was followed by radiotherapy.
Mark, 54, who had taken part in triathlons before his illness, says his back has fully healed and he is ready for the cycling challenge. He and Chris have been training together in locations such as the Surrey Downs and Cotswolds.
Of Chris, he said: ‘He is a very special person. We have been friends since university and have been in the quartet called Vida for 20 years. We are used to spending a lot of time together and he saw my recovery a lot closer than a lot of people.’
Mark – who raised £2,300 for Sarcoma UK through a 15km swim challenge in 2024 – values the fact that the charity has introduced him to a community of people who have been through similar experiences.
Mark, who is married with a teenage daughter, said: ‘I don’t class myself as brave; I have just been doing what I’ve been told by doctors.’
Sarcoma UK’s Research Manager, Emily Williams, said: ‘Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) is one of the most common types of soft tissue sarcoma, yet it’s had almost no new treatment options in 30 years and, like Mark, many patients are initially misdiagnosed before finally getting the right answer. We are funding Professor Pascal Meier at the Institute of Cancer Research whose work is looking at a completely new way to kill sarcoma cells that have become resistant to chemotherapy. The team is using techniques to trigger the body’s own immune system to recognise and attack the cancer, almost as if it were a virus. It’s exactly the kind of kinder, more effective treatment we want to see for the next person diagnosed with UPS. Mark and Chris cycling the length of the country is a brilliant reminder that every mile helps fund research like this.’
To donate to Mark and Chris, go to https://www.justgiving.com/page/markandchrislejog
