Sir Chris Hoy’s cancer latest, wife’s own illness and health update | Other | Sport
Sir Chris Hoy celebrated his 50th birthday on Monday (Image: Instagram: @sarra.hoy)
Celebrated Olympic cycling icon Sir Chris Hoy marked his 50th birthday on Monday, two-and-a-half years after receiving a terminal prostate cancer diagnosis. The Team GB legend was diagnosed with cancer in September 2023 and revealed last year that his condition was terminal, after a scan discovered primary cancer in his prostate which had spread to his bones, including his shoulder, pelvis, ribs and spine. Devastatingly, doctors informed him that he had between just two and four years left to live.
The life-altering diagnosis left Hoy in a state of “absolute horror and shock,” as he recalled feeling “completely numb” and “turning green” as the doctors broke the horrifying news to him. The news also coincided with his wife, Sarra, being diagnosed with an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis (MS), having undergone a scan just a week after her husband’s cancer diagnosis.
Yet despite admitting he felt as though he was in a “waking nightmare” at the time, both Hoy and Sarra have demonstrated remarkable courage and resilience in the aftermath of their respective diagnoses, choosing to transform their harrowing circumstances into something positive by offering support to others.
By speaking openly about his diagnosis, the cycling great has been credited with motivating tens of thousands of men to seek prostate cancer checks, with traffic to the prostate cancer page on the NHS website rising by 47 per cent in the six months following his public announcement.
During the same timeframe, the NHS identified more men with prostate cancer at an earlier stage than previously recorded, with Hoy potentially instrumental in saving lives. He has been praised as a hero by health officials.
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Alongside Sarra, he also founded a charitable cycling event, Tour de 4, with the goal of raising one million pounds for cancer charities and challenging perceptions of people living with a terminal diagnosis.
Taking place in September last year, the event attracted 5,000 participants cycling around Glasgow and the surrounding region, with Sir Mark Cavendish, Dan Walker and Rebecca Adlington among those involved.
In doing so, they helped the Hoys to exceed their fundraising target considerably, with the event generating over £3million for charity.
Sir Chris Hoy at a roundtable on prostate cancer at Bute House. (Image: Getty Images)
It represents one of several positives that Hoy has managed to discover while living with a terminal diagnosis, with the Olympic champion acknowledging being told he had years to live had “brought everything into focus” and taught him how to maximise his life.
“You have to look for the positives, you have to look for the opportunities in any situation,” he told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast last week. “Tomorrow’s not a given for anybody. It’s trying not to sweat the small stuff.
“Trying to appreciate that when little things happen that perhaps previously would have got me annoyed, frustrated – I’m better at letting them go now.”
Although he had initially set out to tick things off his bucket list after his diagnosis, Hoy admits his outlook has shifted considerably, having discovered how to appreciate life’s simpler pleasures.
“When the dust settled I realised that the important things I wanted to do were the small things, the things that we often glaze over, that we don’t even reflect on,” he added.
“Time spent with your kids, with our loved ones, a moment reflecting as the sun comes up in the morning and you have your coffee, and you think ‘ah, it’s wonderful.’
“Little things that we’re just so busy in life that we tend to dismiss or move on from very quickly but if you can slow things down, for all of us, not just anybody in my situation.
“Appreciating the moment and recognising that what’s done, what’s in the past, you can’t change that – and what’s coming in the future, you don’t actually know, good or bad, so there’s no point worrying right now. You may as well just enjoy the moment. If you worry about something you suffer twice.”
