As a thank you to a high dependency unit at Leeds Children’s Hospital, a 16-year-old with a rare stomach and bowel condition raised over £4,000 from a 100-kilometre charity cycle.

Leeds Grammar pupil Oliver Sapier spent much of his early life in hospital being fed through a machine. He suffered five bouts of septicaemia and underwent around 40 operations.

“The ward gave so much to me, it’s been my second home, and I needed to give something back,” Oliver said. So he entered the Big Leeds Bike Ride, going from Roundhay Park into the Yorkshire countryside. He had to stop en route to take medication.

He hopes the money he raised will go towards DVD players, board games, pop-up beds and an overhaul of the playroom.

Hospital fundraising co-ordinator Sharon Edwards said his efforts were “absolutely brilliant. Oliver has been a regular patient on the ward so he knows first-hand what it’s like and what the children need. We are all so very proud of him. He’s an inspiration.”