Mr Ansell said he lost a further three friends to the disease during the challenge.
He would spend large chunks of his day walking from his home in Sunderland to Fenham Barracks in Newcastle, where he works.
He said that while he would be "power walking" some days, on others he would be "shuffling" along.
About 45 people joined Mr Ansell for his final walk on Tuesday, starting at the Stadium of Light, taking him through Seaburn and Cleadon in South Tyneside, before finishing with a celebration at Sunderland pub Chaplin's.
"I just felt a massive relief off my shoulders that I had completed it," he said.
"Some people doubted me at the very beginning and said it was too long, but I proved the doubters that if you put your mind to it, you can do it."
He has raised more than £28,000 for Cancer Research UK in the process.
This is not Mr Ansell's first challenge and he said he was certain it would not be his last.
Before crossing the finish line, he was already thinking about what comes next.
"It just feels weird now putting normal clothing on," he said.
trail34 on October 6th, 2025 at 12:47 UTC »
Two strange quirks of humanity:
1) cancer research is funded by normal citizens through random sporadic charity.
2) we aren’t inclined to give directly, but if someone is willing to publicly sacrifice a little bit of time or comfort in a totally unrelated way, we’re in.
Ralh3 on October 6th, 2025 at 12:37 UTC »
Not to rag on this guy or anything but this seems like something that everybody with any type of active job does literally everyday.
Like less than three hours of not even brisk walking
mf-TOM-HANK on October 6th, 2025 at 12:07 UTC »
My mail route was more than 10 miles per day. 5 days a week for 3.5 years. Maybe I should have been live streaming for charity the whole time