Sir Chris Hoy has revealed he feels “fit and “strong” and has a “sense of purpose” after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.
The six-time Olympic cycling champion was diagnosed last year and announced last month that the disease is terminal.
The 48-year-old has been undergoing chemotherapy and prioritizing time with his wife Sarra Kemp and their two children, Callum, nine, and Chloe, six.
Sir Chris admitted he was “unwell for a while” but has since “found ways to be positive”.
‘A year later, I really feel like I’ve made that progress. “I’ve made it through a tough six months,” he said on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio UK on Friday.
Sir Chris Hoy, 48, has revealed he feels “fit and strong” a year after his cancer diagnosis.
The Olympic cycling champion was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer last year (pictured receiving chemotherapy)
Sir Chris continued: “We’ve accepted what happened and we’ve moved on and it’s, you know, a stage four diagnosis so I’ll be with it for the rest of my life.”
‘But you know what? None of us live forever. So you have to move forward and find ways to be positive, to be hopeful, to have hope.
“I was bad for a while, but with the support of Sarra, my wife and, you know, very good friends and family around me, you get through it and you can get through it.”
Sir Chris has been trying to promote awareness of early cancer detection and is urging fans to get a PSA test at their GP.
The former cyclist said: ‘This is a purpose and drive I haven’t felt since I was aiming for Olympic gold.
‘You feel lucky to have had that approach in your life. Your only purpose and you accept it in sport lasts so long and that’s it, that’s your window and then the rest of your life.
“I wasn’t trying to chase that feeling, I accept that, nothing is going to be the same, but there are lots of exciting things to do in life and to pursue and roles to play.”
And he added: ‘But this is like nothing else. It’s beyond the Olympics, that’s for sure. I feel fit and strong. Now I have a whole new purpose.
He praised his wife Sarra (pictured in 2020) for “supporting him” and admitted he was “unwell for a while”.
Sir Chris recalled his “absolute shock and horror” in a BBC interview last week when doctors told him the “nightmare” diagnosis.
Sir Chris revealed in February that he was being treated for cancer and has since said the disease is now incurable and has spread to his bones, with tumors in his shoulder, pelvis, hip, spine and ribs.
Earlier this month, she appeared on BBC Breakfast News and shared her “absolute shock and horror” when doctors told her the “nightmare” diagnosis.
The athlete also spoke about his wife Sarra who has multiple sclerosis and how the couple broke the news to their young children.
Sir Chris said: ‘That was the first thought in my head. How the hell are we going to tell the kids? It’s just this absolute horror, it’s a waking nightmare, a living nightmare.
“We just try to be positive and try to say, you know what? This is what we’re doing and you can help because when I’m not feeling well, you can come and give me hugs, you can support me, you can be happy, you can be kind to each other. the other.
‘I’m sure many families do it in different ways and I think there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. “There is no one solution, but for us I think that was the best way to do it.”
He recalled having “no symptoms” before his diagnosis.
Recalling that he had suffered “no symptoms, no warnings, nothing” before his diagnosis, he said: “It makes sense to me: why wouldn’t you get tested a little earlier?”
‘Catch it before you need major treatment; It seems obvious to me.
‘Why wouldn’t you lower the age (and) allow more men to just come in and get a blood test?’
Sir Chris added that chemotherapy “was one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced and been through” when he was “still recovering from the diagnosis.”
The Daily Mail has relaunched our End Needless Prostate Deaths campaign in a bid to improve the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
A recent NHS National Cancer Patient Experience Survey has suggested that men are diagnosed late and suffer avoidable deaths because they have to fight to be taken seriously by doctors.
Chris Evans’ Breakfast Show with The National Lottery airs on Virgin Radio UK