Sir Chris Hoy hoping to 'change perceptions' of stage four cancer following terminal diagnosis

Sir Chris Hoy has said he hopes to “change perceptions” about stage four cancer after he was given a terminal diagnosis earlier this year.

The Olympic champion, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in February, recently revealed that his cancer is terminal, and that he has between two and four years to live.

Determined to spread a message of hope and happiness, Sir Chris has released a new book All That Matters.

On Tuesday, he opened up about the book on STV’s This Morning alongside wife Lady Sarra Hoy in their first interview together since the Olympian revealed his terminal diagnosis.

He described the writing experience as “cathartic”, and said that he hopes the book can provide understanding around how families deal with a terminal diagnosis.

The athlete won six Olympic golds between 2004 and 2012 – the second highest total by any British Olympian behind Sir Jason Kenny’s tally of seven.

Sir Chris explained how he found out about his diagnosis: “I had this pain in my shoulder and it wouldn’t go away.

“I went to get the scan at the doctors surgery and they brought the scan up and said ‘there’s a tumour on your shoulder, we need to find out what the root of this is’.

“So I had multiple other scans and eventually the root of it was a prostate, and it was stage four prostate cancer which had spread to the bones”, he said.

“[I had] no symptoms, nothing to point to this diagnosis until the shoulder pain so it came out of the blue. I always prided myself as someone who would go to the doctor with illness or pain.

“As part of being an athlete, you’re used to looking after your body and being quite aware of yourself, but in this case, it was too late by the time we had actually found the diagnosis.”

Shortly after Chris’s diagnosis, his wife Lady Sarra Hoy was also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Explaining how she initially kept her diagnosis from her husband, she said: “It came completely out of the blue and I just knew it wasn’t the right time.

“I always tell Chris everything and we are always each other’s crutch in everything in life so it was very against the grain to not share it with him but I just knew it wasn’t the right time.

“We were trying to find stable ground having just been given this diagnosis from him.”

Sharing an update on his treatment, Sir Chris said: “Now, I am pain free. Everything is under control for the moment and there is a plan for the next stage of treatment. “

“Not everybody is as lucky as myself, some people don’t have as much time but for now, I am fit and healthy and I am going to crack on and hopefully raise a huge amount of money and change perceptions of stage four cancer.

“There’s a lot of life left to live.”

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on STV and the STV Player.