Tom Earnshaw
Sir Chris Hoy has opened up on the moment he was told what he thought might be ordinary aches and pains was in fact terminal cancer.
The retired Team GB legend, who won six gold medals in cycling across the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, revealed that he does not have long left to live after being given the diagnosis by doctors.
In an interview with The Sunday Times last month, the dad-of-two said he had been diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer. The cancer had spread to his bones, with it now incurable, giving him a lifespan of just two to four years, he revealed.
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To make matters worse for the family, Sir Chris revealed his wife Sarra Kemp had also been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis only a few months before his cancer was found by doctors.
"As unnatural as it feels, this is nature. You know, we were all born and we all die, and this is just part of the process," he said at the time.
Sitting down with the BBC, 48-year-old Sir Chris gave his first television interview on his health since telling the world about his cancer.
After being diagnosed in September last year, Sir Chris said it had come 'completely out of the blue', with the last year 'the toughest of our lives so far by some stretch'.
Sir Chris said he had no symptoms and no warnings ahead of his diagnosis.
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"All I had was a pain in my shoulder and a little bit of pain in my ribs," he candidly said, with the cyclist still in very good shape after retiring from the sport after the 2012 London Olympics.
"This ache and pain didn't go away. I assumed it was going to be tendonitis or something, and it was just going to be lay off weights or lay off cycling for a wee while and get some treatment and it'll be fine."
On the scan that found he had a tumour, Sir Chris said: "It was the biggest shock of my life. I remember the feeling of just absolute horror and shock.
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"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 said it felt like his 'life was flashing before his eyes', adding that the first step in his journey was accepting his fate.
"You realise you can't outrun this," he said.
On telling his children, Sir Chris said he has taken a positive approach, explaining to them that they can 'come and give me cuddles when I'm not feeling well'.
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Prostate cancer will affect one in eight men, with the cancer genetic. Both Sir Chris' grandfather and father had the cancer.
Since his diagnosis, Health Secretary Wes Streeting confirmed the government is looking at lowering the screening age for prostate cancer.
Sir Chris has pushed to lower the screening for men with a strong family history of prostate cancer, saying: "Catch it before you need to have any major treatment. To me it seems a no-brainer. Reduce the age, allow more men to just go in and get a blood test.
"Maybe people seeing this or hearing about my story - 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'. And in the long term this will save potentially millions of lives."
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If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.