Sir Chris Hoy has detailed how he was left needing injections for his spine to repair the damage caused by his tumour spreading.
Hoy shared his terminal prostate cancer diagnosis in 2024. Speaking in October, he revealed he had been told he had between two and four years left to live, having begun chemotherapy earlier in the year.
He learned in September that his cancer had spread, with doctors giving him the prognosis. In December, the 48-year-old said he was in “The best shape I’ve been in for over a year” after responding well to treatment, considering it the best-case scenario, but has now shed more light on the pain he has gone through since his diagnosis.
After discovering his tumour had spread, Hoy was told it had broken his spine. The damage left him unable to pick up his daughter Chloe, who turned seven in the autumn, and he has opened up about the impact that had on his life.
“When I had scans, secondary tumours in my spine had actually burrowed into the bone so badly it had fractured,” Hoy told the Mid Point podcast (via The Sun) “When they saw it they were like, ‘We’re going to have to be really careful here, you can’t pick up your kids, you can’t do anything’.
“Being told not to pick up your six-year-old daughter, that was like, ‘Right, this is really impacting my life’. “So I had injections. They drill into your vertebrae, squirt this cement material in and it sets, fuses and makes the vertebrae as good as new again. So I’m back to lifting weights again.”
He continued: “As soon as you’re told this has been taken away, you suddenly appreciate everything, the basic things. It’s like losing your wallet, when you find it, you’re not in a net gain situation but you’re so grateful for it.
“The thought of not being able to pick up your child, the thought of that not being a possibility was horrendous. And then for now I’m doing OK.”
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Hoy is a multiple Olympic medal winner, taking at least one gold medal in three successive summer games from 2004 to 2012. Since receiving his diagnosis, he has made concerted efforts to raise prostate cancer awareness.
“For me, my purpose is spreading awareness about it, trying to get men to go and get checked,” he told Sky Sports in December. “It’s a very simple thing to deal with if you catch it early enough.
“I realise how far I’ve come now. There’s no way I could have sat here talking to you six months ago. I would have been a gibbering wreck.
“The overall hope was that it would help people, not just people going through a cancer diagnosis. But that you can get through the most extreme situations and pop out the other end, whilst you still have hope and are able to live your life.”
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