Sir Chris Hoy's wife diagnosed with MS just weeks before his cancer diagnosis
Sir Chris Hoy has revealed his wife, Sarra, was diagnosed with MS just weeks before his cancer diagnosis
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Sir Chris Hoy has revealed his wife, Sarra, was diagnosed with MS just weeks before his cancer diagnosis.
The Olympics legend has revealed he has between two and four years to live after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.
Hoy, speaking to the Sunday Times, has now revealed that his wife Sarra was diagnosed with MS before he became aware of his own condition.
He says Sarra's GP had ordered a scan to investigate a curious tingling sensation in her face and tongue.
Sir Chris Hoy has revealed his wife, Sarra, was diagnosed with MS just weeks before his cancer diagnosis
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Sarra was given her results in November but didn't tell him until December last year, he says.
Another scan before Christmas revealed that Sarra had 'very active and aggressive MS and that she required urgent treatment.
Hoy said: "It’s the closest I’ve come to, like, you know, why me? Just, what? What’s going on here?
"It didn’t seem real. It was such a huge blow, when you’re already reeling.
"You think nothing could possibly get worse. You literally feel like you’re at rock bottom, and you find out, oh no, you’ve got further to fall.
"It was brutal.”
Hoy has also opened up on what he told the couple's two children about his cancer.
His son, Callum, asked him whether he was going to die. The Olympics icon, who won six gold medals for Team GB, told him that nobody lives forever.
He underwent chemotherapy in November and Callum kept asking his father whether he would lose his hair.
In order to keep his cancer private, and also for the sake of his son, he wore a cold cap.
He says it was 'like your head being in a vice' during all six rounds over 18 weeks. Hoy kept his hair but says the treatment hurt more than anything he'd ever experienced.
"And I've got a very high pain threshold," he said.
Sir Chris Hoy pictured with his wife Sarra back in 2021
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Also during chemo, a friend rang Sarra and said a journalist had got wind of his condition.
They reportedly asked whether it was true that Hoy had a 'terminal illness'.
The couple had apparently been braced for the news to leak but that didn't make it any easier, with Hoy left angry at the time.
"Yeah, it was very frustrating," he admitted.
Sir Chris Hoy won six gold medals while representing Team GB at various Olympics
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Hoy is, however, no longer thinking about the journalist or the leak in question.
"It would have happened at some point," he continued. "And there was a relief with it.
"It was awful, because that Pandora’s box is opened and you can’t shut it. But it was like a pressure release."