A cyclist who thought he pulled a muscle during a ride was horrified to learn he was riddled with cancer.
Luke Grenfell-Shaw, 24 from Bristol, was teaching English in Siberia when he felt a pain so went to the school nurse for medical advice.
Luke said: "I had an aching pain in my left shoulder.
"Being an athlete I just thought I had pulled a muscle or something," Bristol Live reports.
Her reaction told Luke the pain was more sinister so he flew back to the UK where he was told he had stage four cancer.
Medics found 13 cancerous nodules in his lungs.
Luke said: "It was totally devastating.
"All the expectations of your life are turned upside down.
"You suddenly don't know how long you're going to live or if you're going to have a family."
To cope with the horrifying news Luke turned to exercise.
"When I found out I had cancer, exercise was vital for me to keep on living positively and healthily," he said
"I read everything I could about my cancer and realised that just rolling over and being institutionalised wasn’t the answer.
"What did I have to lose? This attitude has helped me enormously.
"Exercise helped me so much – to stay strong during treatment, to keep a positive mindset, to sustain self-belief that I could get through this and attempt even bigger challenges.
"It was a way of taking control – it was enormously powerful and helpful."
Days after he was told he had cancer Luke decided to fulfill a dream he's had cycle around the world.
He wants to inspire other cancer patients, who he calls CanLivers, and raise money for charities including 5K Your Way, Trekstock, Teenage Cancer Trust and ClicSargent.
He said: "The aims of this trip are simple but ambitious.
"It's to inspire CanLivers to proactively seek out opportunities to live richly and fully; to maximise their chances of longevity and happiness through exercise and diet and to create a dynamic, lasting movement in how we approach cancer."
He will be joined by other cancer patients, friends and family.
They will cycle through 24 countries in the epic trip that starts in January.
"I want to share this incredible journey with the people who are dear to me," Luke said.
The first leg of the journey starts at Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre then they enter Europe, before heading down south, across Italy and down the Dalmatian coast before finishing in Istanbul.
From there, they will cycle through the mountainous Georgia and Armenia; visit ancient cities in Uzbekistan; travel through the heart of central Asia and ride across the north of India before finishing in Beijing.
Luke has so far raised £7,600.
To make a donation visit here .
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