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CHRIS HOY bravely insists he still has “hope” as he plans to outlive the doctors’ diagnosis of his stage four prostate cancer.
Last month, the six-time Olympic gold medallist, 48, revealed his condition is terminal.
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The legendary Scottish track cyclist was told by doctors in 2023 that he has between two and four years to live.
But 12 months on, after undergoing tough chemotherapy including wearing a -27C ice cap during sessions, Hoy claims he his currently “as fit as I’ve been in the last 12 months”.
Hoy, who has a wife of 14 years, Sarra, and two children, Callum, 10, and Chloe, 7, recently spent time cycling over mountains in Greece during the school half-term.
And he is taking great comfort from both how he feels and the length of time others have lived with the illness for.
Speaking on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with The National Lottery on Virgin Radio UK, he said: “Well the plan is, right now, keep doing what I’m doing in terms of treatment because it’s working.
“Touch wood – the diagnosis was two to four years, but actually if you look beyond that it can be many years.
“There’s people out there that are still around who’ve been in the similar situation for 20 years. So you know there’s hope.
“There is hope and I’m very lucky that there is treatment for me. But also you don’t know it could be less than that. So that is the target you know – crack on for many years, ideally.”
Hoy has detailed the cancer battle in his memoir “All That Matters” – which was released on Thursday.
Along with his own health struggles, he and his family have also had to deal with partner Sarra’s diagnosis for incurable multiple sclerosis.
Yet despite the harrowing ordeal, Hoy hopes his book will act as a form of inspiration for others in similar positions.
He added: “It’s a book for anybody going through a difficult time.
“But you can get through it. You have to be able to be quite tough for yourself in terms of saying, right, I’m going to actively choose not to embrace the negative thoughts. I’m going to actively not, I’m not going to let them creep in.
“They will, they will come, but you’ve got to push them away and focus on, focus on the here and the now.
“You don’t think too far ahead. You know, the future doesn’t exist yet. All we’ve got is the present.”
Prince William revealed earlier this week wife Princess Kate’s cancer diagnosis led to “the hardest year of my life”.
And Hoy, one of Britain’s greatest ever Olympians, used Princess Kate’s illness as an example of how cancer can impact anybody – which illustrates the importance of early detection.
He said: “That’s the point. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the King or whether you’re an average person. It’s a leveller. Cancer can affect anybody at any time.
“Doesn’t matter how physically fit and strong you feel you are – If it’s genetic, then it can happen. So it’s not discriminating, affects anybody at any time. So the key thing is early detection.
“If you can get things checked, if you can get an early test, then you have the odds in your favour.”
