Sir Chris Hoy's wife diagnosed with incurable disease months after his cancer news

The double blow came just months after the six-time Olympic gold medallist learned he had terminal cancer

Sir Chris Hoy, the six-time Olympic gold medalist, shocked the sports world on Saturday night (October 19) when he revealed his cancer diagnosis is terminal. He was told by doctors that he has between two and four years to live after initially visiting a doctor for what he thought was a gym injury.

The father-of-twohttps://www.nottinghampost.com/news/uk-world-news/olympic-legend-sir-chris-hoy-9106525

with prostate cancer which had spread to tumours in his shoulder, pelvis, hip, spine and ribs. At 48, Sir Chris was informed it was stage 4 cancer.

"And just like that, I learn how I will die," Sir Chris shares in his new book. Tragically, Sir Chris' wife Sarra has also been diagnosed with an aggressive form of Multiple sclerosis, dealing another devastating blow to the family.

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After experiencing a tingling sensation in her face and tongue, Sarra's GP ordered a scan. She received her results in November but didn't reveal to her husband until December that it could be MS.

In an extract from his new book All That Matters, shared with The Times this weekend, Sir Chris writes: "It was. Another scan just before Christmas confirmed that Sarra had 'very active and aggressive' MS and needed urgent treatment," reports the Mirror.

Chris shared his feelings about the situation, saying: "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."

Sarra had to choose between more potentially effective but riskier new treatments and low-risk but less effective options, with the couple opting for the latter. Sir Chris revealed that on her worst days, Sarra struggles to put a key in the door, but she remains positive about her diagnosis.

"She says all the time, 'How lucky are we? We both have incurable illnesses for which there is some treatment. Not every disease has that. It could be a lot worse'." Unlike Sir Chris' illness, where they decided to tell their children directly about the cancer, their daughter and son are unaware of Sarra's MS.

"I never want to lie to them. But there are certain things you don't need to tell them straight away," said dad Sir Chris who shares son, Callum, and a daughter, Chloe with Sarra whom he married in 2010.

The former track cyclist also confessed that many of their friends are still unaware of Sarra's diagnosis, but he is ready to discuss it now that his tell-all book has been made public this weekend. He plans to cope by putting his phone away until he is ready to speak.

This weekend, Sir Chris disclosed more about his ongoing health situation after initially announcing in February that he was dealing with cancer. It has now emerged that Sir Chris felt 'forced' to publicise his condition to pre-empt someone else from leaking it without his consent.

Although Sir Chris had spoken openly about his health battle before, he refrained from specifying it was cancer until recently. At the time of his initial announcement, Sir Chris expressed that he was "going really well" and feeling "optimistic, positive and surrounded by love for which I'm truly grateful", following his diagnosis in 2023.

During the summer, Sir Chris served as a pundit for the BBC's coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics. His illustrious track career is studded with accolades: six Olympic gold medals, 11 world championships, and 34 World Cup titles accumulated before hanging up his competitive helmet in 2013.

In Great Britain’s record books, only Sir Jason Kenny outstrips Hoy in Olympic gold medals. .

Born in Edinburgh, Hoy took to the cycling track at 14 and secured his first piece of Olympic hardware—a team sprint silver—in Sydney in 2000. He then clinched a 1km track time trial gold in Athens in 2004, advancing to further glory with three golds in Beijing in 2008, and two in London in 2012.

His towering achievements in Beijing led to his knighting in the 2008 New Year Honours List.