Sir Chris Hoy has opened up about his terminal cancer diagnosis admitting he has "accepted" his fate.
The six-time Olympic champion was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year and last month he announced that his disease is terminal. Chris, 48, is now undergoing palliative chemotherapy as he spends time with his wife Sarra Kemp and their two children, Callum, nine, and Chloe, six.
Sir Chris has admitted that while he was "in a bad way for a while" he has now "found ways to be positive," with the time he has left. He said: "A year on, I genuinely feel as though I've made that progress. I've kind of got through the difficult six month."
Talking on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio UK on Friday he added: "We've accepted what's happened and we've moved on and it's, you know, it's a stage four diagnosis, so it's with me for the rest of my life. But do you know what? None of us live forever. So you’ve got to crack on and you find ways to be positive, to hope, to have hope.
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PA)"I was in a bad way for a while, but with the support of Sarra, my wife, and, you know, really good friends and family around me, you get through it and you can get through it."
Sir Chris has now been aiming to help raise awareness for early cancer detection by speaking out on the subject and encouraging others to get a PSA test at their GP. He said: "This is a purpose and a drive that I've not felt since I was aiming for Olympic gold.
"You feel lucky to have had that one focus in your life. Your one purpose and you accept in sport it lasts so long and that's it, that's your window and then the rest of your life. I wasn't trying to chase that feeling, I accept that, nothing's going to be quite the same as that - but there's loads of exciting things to do in life and to pursue and roles to play."
He added: "But this is like nothing else. It's beyond Olympics, that's for sure. I’m feeling fit and strong. I’ve got a whole new purpose now." Sir Chris announced back in February that he was undergoing cancer treatment and since then has revealed that the disease is now incurable having metastasised and spread to his bones, with tumours in his shoulder, pelvis, hip, spine, and ribs.
He appeared on BBC Breakfast News earlier this month where he shared his "absolute shock and horror" he felt when doctors told him the "nightmare" diagnosis. He confessed that his first thought was his children when he realised the severity of the situation.
Sir Chris said: "That was the first thought in my head. How on earth are we going to tell the kids? It's just this absolute horror, it is a waking nightmare, living nightmare. We just tried to be positive and tried to say do you know what, this is what we're doing and you can help because when I'm not feeling well, you can come and give me cuddles, you can be supportive, you can be happy, you can be kind to each other.
"I'm sure lots of families do it in different ways and I think there's no one right approach for anyone. There's no one-size-fits-all, but for us I think that was the best way to do it."
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