A teenage cancer sufferer defied his pain to support fundraisers at a punishing charity event.

Jake Spicer, 14, suffers from a rare form of bone cancer that causes him so much pain he needs to take morphine five times a day.

He has lost three stone in weight in the past 12 weeks alone.

But on Saturday, he travelled to Oxford’s Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre to see his friends and family row, cycle and run the equivalent of the length of Britain.

Jake’s mum, Lesley, of Shepherds Hill, Greater Leys, said: “He’s doing as well as can be expected.

“Jake really wanted to be here but he couldn’t stay too long, because he was in quite a lot of pain.

“Some of them were going a bit slowly, so Jake sat in the middle and told them to come on and get going.”

A dozen people, including Jake’s father Mick and brother Aaron, took part in the event, which was expected to raise £2,000 for Clic Sargent and the Thomas Ball Cancer Care Fund.

The participants travelled the equivalent of the 603-mile journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats, in less than four-and-a-half hours.

Mrs Spicer said: “It means so much that there are people out there who will do this.

“The community – St Gregory the Great School, where Jake goes, staff at BMW where Mick works and on our estate – has been so supportive.

“It’s nice to know everyone has rallied around to support him and give up their day.

“A lot of them work full-time and I know they would like to spend it with their family, so for them to come and spend it with my family was just amazing.”

Aaron, 20, said: “It means a lot to Jake that they’re doing this and I think it does give him something good to focus on.”

Mrs Spicer added: “Jake knows people are out there supporting him and he’s over the moon knowing people are raising money for his favourite charities.”

In the past month, many of Jake’s family have been baptised as Christians and have been holding Christian discussion groups at their home.