SIR CHRIS HOY recalled the heartbreaking moment he told his wife about his terminal cancer diagnosis.
The British cyclist great and Olympic hero, 49, received the news from doctors in September 2023.
He found out he had stage four prostate cancer, which has now spread to his bones and is incurable.
And he told the BBC as part of his Cancer, Courage & Me documentary of how he then had to go home and share the diagnosis – and the shock he had just two to four years to live.
Hoy – who went public about his cancer last year – said: “It’s about five miles from the hospital back home.
“I just walked back in a daze.
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“I don’t remember the walk.
“I was just thinking, ‘How am I going to tell Sarra? What am I going to say?’
“As soon as I said the words, I broke down.”
Hoy – who is recovering from a broken leg after a bad mountain biking crash – added: “In my sporting career it used to be about process, not outcome.
“Focus on what you have control over. But if you win or lose, it’s not life and death.
“[After the diagnosis] the stakes have changed dramatically. The principle is the same – but now it is life and death.”
What is prostate cancer?
Prostate cancer affects a small, walnut shaped gland that sits underneath the bladder and surrounds the urethra – the tube carrying pee outside the body.
It usually grows bigger as you get older.
The prostate’s main job is to help make semen – the fluid that carries sperm.
Most men with early prostate cancer don’t have any signs or symptoms – that’s why it’s important to know about your risk.
Possible symptoms include:
- Difficulty starting to urinate or emptying your bladder
- A weak flow when you urinate
- A feeling that your bladder hasn’t emptied properly
- Dribbling urine after you finish urinating
- Needing to urinate more often than usual, especially at night
- A sudden need to urinate – you may sometimes leak urine before you get to the toilet
If you do notice changes in the way you urinate, this is more likely to be a sign of an enlarged prostate, which is very common and non-cancerous.
But it’s still a good idea to get it checked out.
In the UK, about one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime.
Some factors may mean you’re more likely to get it.
This includes:
- Getting older – it mainly affects men aged 50 or over
- Having a family history of prostate cancer
- Being Black
If you have any of these risk factors or if you have any symptoms, speak to your GP.
They can talk to you about your risk, and about the tests that are used to diagnose prostate cancer.
Source: Prostate Cancer UK
Lady Sarra is herself dealing with her own health battle following a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis around the same time as her husband’s news.
And she revealed the gut-wrenching reaction of their children when they told them about the six-time Olympic gold medalist’s condition.
The Hoys have a son called Callum David Robert, born in 2014, and a daughter named Chloe Rose Carol, born in 2017.
Sarra said in the doc: “They were scared, they had heard about cancer.
“Questions come very quickly. ‘Will he die?’ ‘Will I catch it?’ ‘Did I cause it?’ ‘Is it because I was naughty?’”
Hoy’s friends Andy Murray and Laura and Jason Kenny broke down in tears talking about the moments they found out about the terminal cancer diagnosis – with all three struggling to even get the words out in emotional scenes.
The documentary is set to air at 9pm on Thursday on BBC One.