Sir Chris Hoy ‘kept terminal cancer diagnosis secret for a year’ as he reveals how ‘my world fell apart in a sentence’
SIR Chris Hoy kept his cancer diagnosis secret for a year – and has revealed how his world “fell apart in one sentence”.
The six-time Olympic gold medallist, 48, announced yesterday he has just four years to live.
Sir Chris is currently in Copenhagen covering the World Track Cycling Championships for the BBC – and will be on TV this afternoon.
He had said in February he was being “treated for cancer” and claimed it was going well – though knew in reality it was just “management”.
The Team GB cycling legend had first gone to his doctor in September last year.
He has written a memoir about the past year, but feels daunted about revealing his story.
He told the Sunday Times: “Once it’s said, you can’t go back. You can’t unsay it.”
Sir Chris explained, the story began with “one sentence that some person you’ve never met before has just told you”.
“And in the space of one sentence, just a collection of words, your whole world has fallen apart.”
Sir Chris went on to commentate the cycling events for the BBC at this year’s Paris Olympics despite his terminal cancer diagnosis.
It comes after the dad-of-two revealed his wife Sarra was diagnosed with incurable and degenerative multiple sclerosis.
They have not told their kids, seven-year-old Chloe and 10-year-old Callum.
DIAGNOSIS
The star had gone to the doctor in September last year after feeling a strain in his shoulder.
A tumour was found in his shoulder – before a second scan found the primary cancer in his prostate.
The prostate cancer had metastasised to Sir Chris’s bones – including his shoulder, pelvis, ribs, and spine.
Sir Chris recounted how he told his children that no-one lives for ever but he hopes to “be here for many, many more years”.
He began chemotherapy in November, wearing an extremely painful cold cap to keep his hair.
The sportsman suffered a violent allergic reaction in gruelling chemo sessions – but only missed five days of training on a bike.
How Chris Hoy went from lad on £5 bike inspired by ET to 6-time Olympic champion
By Jonathan Rose
SIR Chris Hoy began cycling at the age of six after he was inspired by the 1982 film ET.
Before he moved on to track cycling, he rode a BMX bike until the age of 15.
Sir Chris was ranked second in Britain, fifth in Europe and ninth in the World.
His dad picked up a £5 bike from a jumble sale – four years later Sir Chris was competing in the semi-final of a BMX world championship race.
“I was six when I saw ET,” he told The Guardian in 2020. “It changed my life. I wasn’t interested in cycling at all before.”
“The bikes I’d seen in Edinburgh just seemed functional things for getting from A to B,” continued Hoy, who grew up in Murrayfield.
“Then I saw those BMX bikes on screen and I was hooked. It wasn’t the scene where they cycle across the sky, but when they get chased by the police and they’re doing jumps and skidding round corners.
“It was the most exciting thing I’d ever seen. I wanted to do that.”
Four years later he became part of the British national squad.
A world championship medal came in 1999 with silver in the team sprint.
Sir Chris went on to become the second most decorated Olympic cyclist of all time.
Well-wishes for the BBC pundit have poured in since his health announcement.
Sir Mark Cavendish, who holds the record for most stages won in the Tour de France, hailed Sir Chris as a “hero of a human being”.
Amy Joy Williams, MBE, the British former skeleton racer and Olympic gold medallist, added: “A pure superhuman who everyone loves. x”
And, Paddy McGuinness shared: “Some man”, as Dame Kelly Holmes wrote: “Sending love to you Chris.” While comedian Jack Whitehall penned: “Sending you all the love mate.”
SARRA’S MS
Sir Chris and Sarra have chosen low-risk but less effective treatments for Sarra’s MS.
On some days Sarra struggles to fit in the key in the door, Sir Chris said.
The couple have not yet told their two children about Sarra’s MS diagnosis.
Sir Chris has also now written a heartbreaking memoir detailing his experience of terminal cancer.
He said recording the audio version of his memoir is the hardest thing he has ever done.
The book ends with Sir Chris’s message to his children – which he said will be the words they listen to when he is gone.
All That Matters: My Toughest Race Yet by Sir Chris Hoy is published on November 7.
What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?
Symptoms of prostate cancer can include:
- needing to pee more frequently, often during the night
- needing to rush to the toilet
- difficulty in starting to pee (hesitancy)
- straining or taking a long time while peeing
- weak flow
- feeling that your bladder has not emptied fully
- blood in urine or blood in semen
Source: NHS