'We live three doors apart and both got rare cancer'

Neighbours Ryan Womersley and Rowan Sutcliffe will race up Beamsley Beacon in October to raise money for research into sarcoma

Two young men who found themselves diagnosed with rare forms of the same cancer while living just three doors apart have said the chances of it happening were lower than being "struck by lightning".

Ryan Womersley, 32, and Rowan Sutcliffe, 20, live in the village of Addingham on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.

Mr Sutcliffe is in recovery from soft tissue sarcoma while Mr Womersley, a father-of-one, is currently undergoing treatment for it. They and their friends have planned a number of fundraising challenges.

Mr Womersley said: "We are going to start and end in the pub and have a day racing to the top of a massive hill carrying a heavy weight."

The pair are planning to carry stretchers up to the top of Beamsley Beacon, a three-mile hike from Addingham.

They will be joined by former Royal Marines who served with Mr Womersley during his time in the armed forces, as well as volunteers from the village.

They hope to raise thousands of pounds for Sarcoma UK, a charity which funds research and supports those diagnosed.

Rowan had an early 18th birthday party while undergoing treatment for angiosarcoma

Mr Sutcliffe was 17 when he was diagnosed with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare heart cancer. He had chemotherapy, radiotherapy and open heart surgery to remove a tumour. He is now cancer-free.

He said: "They were pretty much definite that I wasn't going to survive. I was classed as a terminal case but I didn't think I was.

"You have to keep going, you can't stop because as soon as you stop, you let it beat you.

"I had radiotherapy on my 18th birthday which was a bit different. Instead of getting drunk I got high on codeine, but it saved my life."

He is now training to be a building surveyor and said he is catching up with the years he lost when he was ill.

Ryan Womersley during his time as a Royal Marine

Three doors away from the Sutcliffe home is the house where Mr Womersley lives with his wife and one-year-old daughter.

He was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma, an equally rare and aggressive soft tissue cancer, in March this year.

Sarcoma UK said only 19 people are diagnosed with this kind of cancer in the UK every year.

He has undergone surgery to remove a tumour from his groin and has just finished an intensive course of radiotherapy.

He said: "It is bittersweet once you finish it (radiotherapy) because the consultant said to me, 'once you have had this treatment you can't physically have any more radiotherapy and you can't have another operation because of where it is' - so that is it, kitchen sink."

He had no symptoms except a painless lump, and it was his wife, a GP, who convinced him to go to the doctor.

Beamsley Beacon is 1,300ft above sea level and a three-mile hike from Addingham

Mr Womersley contacted former colleagues from the Royal Marines and the pair organised a stretcher-carry event, which will take place on Saturday October 25.

The men will each join a team in a race to carry someone on a stretcher to the top of Beamsley Beacon.

The event will start and finish at The Fleece pub, where the men regularly meet up.

Mr Sutcliffe's mother Emma has already raised more than £30,000 for the charities Candlelighters and the Teenage Cancer Trust, both of which supported the family.

She is helping to organise the latest event, and said Mr Womersley and her son were a great support to one another.

She said: "As a mum I am very blessed that Rowan is here after the challenging couple of years we have had.

"Rowan knows what Ryan is going through with radiotherapy, it leaves you with horrible side effects and I think there is a camaraderie."

Sarcoma UK's director of fundraising and communications, Kerry Reeves-Kneip, said: "In over a decade of supporting the sarcoma community, we've seen countless inspiring fundraising efforts, but a stretcher race up a Yorkshire fell is definitely a first.

"The money they raise will help support vital research into sarcoma - research that's desperately needed for these rare cancers that affect so few people each year.

"Addingham village is showing what community spirit truly means."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.