Having had one leg amputated after cancer, this marathon runner from Rouen is preparing to return to the race

For Thomas Brout, running has always been a story of personal challenge, with objectives, preparation, obligatory passages… But this time, the challenge is completely different. On January 21, the president of Team Run Normandie from Bois-Guillaume (Seine-Maritime) had to have his foot and part of his left tibia amputated. This is due to a sarcoma, a particularly aggressive cancer, discovered in his ankle a few weeks earlier.

A sportsman since he was very young, a promising goalkeeper as a teenager, it was often on the side of this joint that the problem was. “But since 2024 and an injury during a trail, my ankle has been causing me a lot of problems,” recalls the 41-year-old from Normandy. “I was followed, but the examinations showed nothing worrying apart from blood at the level of the malleolus which sometimes had to be punctured.” However, the situation does not improve and the runner must give up at the end of autumn 2025 from the Valencia marathon, in Spain.

“I had been running with an ankle brace for several weeks to alleviate the pain, but the result was not pretty. My partner Clémentine convinced me to go and consult again. And there, on the ultrasound, the doctor started to have doubts. He had seen something other than blood…” What happened next was not going to be reassuring and a battery of tests later, the diagnosis was made following a final biopsy. The stage 2 tumor stretches over a dozen centimeters at the level of the left ankle. “We had to absorb the shock. But above all, there were two options: either the sarcoma had already spread elsewhere in the body and the outlook was not encouraging. Either it was localized and an amputation could save my life.”

“Alexis Hanquinquant helped me move towards amputation more calmly”

On January 5, as Thomas Brout himself said with his characteristic optimism, “the good news came. No other tumors were detected elsewhere. And we can move on.” Because for him, there is no question of lamenting what he will lose. His competitive mentality takes over. Without even waiting for the operation, he is already starting to consult the disabled sports federation website to imagine his new life as an athlete.

Two days before the big day, his loved ones have a surprise in store for him: a phone call with the Norman paratriathlete, Alexis Hanquinquant, double Olympic gold medalist. “They harassed him to call me. The first thing he told me was that I had friends who wouldn’t give up,” smiles the business manager, still surprised by the impact of this exchange. “I obviously knew him, but I wasn’t a fan. And yet, it was a great moment. I was able to ask him specific questions to which only he had the answers. On what I had to do to run again, on the pain, on my new body… He helped me move towards the amputation more calmly.”

Since then, more than four weeks have passed. “I started my rehabilitation at the Herbiers center in Bois-Guillaume as if I was preparing for a race, step by step. I follow the instructions. I pay attention to my sleep, my diet. With a whole team at my side. The caregivers, the physiotherapists, the staff, but also my partner, my friends, the people at the club…”

Healing is going well and a first prosthesis is being made, perhaps taking the first steps soon. “It’s going to be a lot of emotion, that’s for sure,” imagines this father of three girls who has already marked the Valencia marathon on his calendar at the end of the year, just to complete the circle. “We must not skip ahead,” reasons the person who will have to finance a first racing prosthesis, the cost of which is around 10,000 euros. A prize pool was launched by his entourage and a solidarity race, open to all, will be organized on Saturday March 21. “I will be there to encourage those who come to support me.” And perhaps show those who experience similar ordeals that they can be overcome.