SIR Chris Hoy has revealed the moment he was told his ache was a tumour in a candid interview about his cancer diagnosis.
The six-time Olympic cycling champion announced last month in a Sunday Times interview that his cancer is terminal.
The 48-year-old first made public in February that he was undergoing treatment including chemotherapy.
A tumour was found in Hoy‘s shoulder and a second scan found primary cancer in his prostate which has metastasised to his bones.
In his first TV interview since then, Sir Chris told BBC Breakfast’s Sally Nugent how a scan revealed it was a tumour.
He felt “absolute shock and horror” at his initial diagnosis and the “nightmare” of having to break the news to his wife Sarra.
He said: “It was the biggest shock of my life. I remember the feeling of just absolute horror and shock.
“I just basically walked back in a daze. I couldn’t believe the news and I was just trying to process it, I don’t remember walking.
“I just remember sort of halfway home thinking ‘where am I?’ And then I was thinking ‘how am I going to tell Sarra? What am I going to say?’.”
Sir Chris also called for a change to the current screening in England.
The NHS has no national screening program for prostate cancer, but men aged 50 and over can ask their GP for a free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.
“I believe that the screening for men with a strong family history of prostate cancer, should be a lot younger, a lot,” Hoy said.
“It’s logical to me why would you not just get the test a little bit earlier, catch it before you need to have any major treatment? So to me it seems a no brainer.
“Why would they not reduce the age, bring the age down, allow more men to just go in and get a blood test?”
Asked if that was something he could change, Hoy replied: “I hope so.
“I hope, well maybe not, maybe people seeing this or hearing about my story and then just by them asking their GP will create enough of a surge of interest, that people that make the decisions will go ‘you know what, we need to address this’.
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
“And in the long term this will actually, even from a logistical point of view would save potentially millions of lives in the long term.
“And why wouldn’t you, you know, why wouldn’t you?!”
His diagnosis came after his father and grandfather were both diagnosed with prostate cancer.
In September 2023, a doctor delivered the awful news to Hoy that he had Stage 4 cancer.
What was first diagnosed as a tumour in his shoulder, the primary cancer was located in his prostate.
It had then unfortunately spread to his bones, pelvis, hip, spine, shoulder and rib.
Medics have given Hoy two to four years to live.
