Sir Chris Hoy, one of Britain’s greatest ever Olympians, has revealed he has terminal cancer.
The 48-year-old six-time Olympic cycling gold medallist has only two to four years to live, according to doctors.
Hoy has been living with his diagnosis for a year but has only now revealed his cancer is terminal.
He said he was now prepared to write his full story and added: “Because once it’s said, you can’t go back. You can’t unsay it
Violent allergic reaction to chemotherapy
Hoy was told that his tumours were at stage 4 by his doctor and that they were incurable.
“And just like that,” Hoy wrote. “I learn how I will die.”
His wife Sarra asked what treatment options were available but medics described it as the management of his condition.
“How long do I have?” Hoy asked. “Two to four years,” he was told.
Hoy, who has been undergoing chemotherapy, took the step of having a cold cap in an attempt to save his hair after his son Callum asked him if that would be a side effect of the treatment.
He said it was like your head “being in a vice”, during all six rounds over 18 weeks and said it was the most painful procedure he had ever been through.
“And I’ve got a very high pain threshold,” he said.
He said he suffered such a bad allergic reaction to the chemo in round two that the session went from two hours long to four.
The impact of the treatment left him “absolutely broken by the end of it”.
Back in February Hoy said on social media that he had been diagnosed with cancer and that his treatment was “thankfully going really well”.
He added then: “I’m optimistic, positive.”
The father of two, whose children are 10 and seven, in an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, said he originally went to the doctor in September last year.
He thought he had suffered a shoulder strain because he was “getting a bit old for lifting heavy weights”.
Tumour was found in his shoulder
It was discovered he had a tumour in his shoulder and a further scan uncovered that the primary cancer was in his prostate, which had spread to his bones.
There were tumours in his shoulder, pelvis, hip, spine and rib.
Hoy, in a memoir which he has written in the past year, said: “[You are told] 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.”
His memoir is due to be published next month.
Reveals his wife has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
He also told how his wife Sarra has also had to deal with the diagnosis that she has a “very active and aggressive” type of multiple sclerosis following a scan last November.
She made the devastating discovery after she started to suffer a curious tingling sensation in her face and tongue.
Hoy said the biggest challenge was having to tell their children Callum and Chloe but he was able to find perspective and positivity.
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