Sir Chris Hoy’s ‘scared’ children asked if they were to blame for his terminal cancer diagnosis, his wife has revealed in a heartbreaking interview.
Team GB legend Hoy announced in February 2024 that he was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
Hoy, one of the greatest Olympians of all time with six gold medals, said in October of last year that his diagnosis was terminal.
Doctors gave the 49-year-old between two and four years to live after the primary cancer spread to his bones.
Hoy continues to receive ‘loving support’ from his wife, Lady Sarra Hoy, and 11-year-old son Callum and eight-year-old daughter Chloe.
‘The kids are supporting Chris by embracing him with their love,’ Lady Hoy said in a new BBC show, Sir Chris Hoy: Cancer, Courage & Me, which airs at 9pm on Thursday night on BBC One.
‘They knew he was having his medicine. I wanted to make cancer and chemotherapy part of our lives, I didn’t want them to be scared off it.
‘I don’t want them to ever remember being sat down and told something, I want it to be something that evolves and they can grow with.’
Hoy’s wife also opened up on the immediate impact of the cancer diagnosis on their two young children.
‘They were scared, they had heard about cancer,’ she said. ‘Questions came very quickly.
‘Will he die? Will I catch it? Did I cause it? Is it because I was naughty? They didn’t quite verbalise that but that’s one of the very common things for children [who’s parents are affected by cancer].
‘We’ve got a big cherry blossom tree in the garden that we all love. I quickly realised that Chris’ chemo would finish when the cherry tree in the garden would be blossoming.
‘So we painted a big tree with no leaves on it and then I bought some pink blossom and every day the kids wake up and stick a piece of blossom on the tree with the idea that we are helping Daddy regrow.
‘I’m trying to do it for Chris really as much as the children, to show Chris the trees are stripped bare and taken down to nothing but they regrow.’
On the touching morning routine, Sir Chris said: ‘Every day you would come down for breakfast and it would look a little bit bushier, the inverse of me because I was getting more and more unwell.
‘But actually it showed me that I was getting through this and it was doing something positive.’
Hoy, who was born in Edinburgh, won six Olympic gold medals – and one silver medal – between 2000 and 2012, making him Britain’s second-most decorated Olympian behind Sir Jason Kenny.
The cycling legend also won 11 World Championship golds and a staggering 34 World Cup titles before retiring in 2013.
Since then, Hoy has been a popular pundit for the BBC at multiple Olympic Games and cycling events.
Speaking last month, Hoy said his cancer diagnosis has ‘in some ways’ improved his life as it has changed his outlook.
‘It’s changed my life without question, but I think in some ways it’s improved my life,’ Hoy said. ‘It’s changed my outlook on a lot of things.
‘I’m not as bothered by small things. I think I try and focus on the here and the now, enjoying the moment, making the most of today, and trying to find something positive in any situation.
‘And even at the very least, trying just to reject negativity, because it brings you down. If you can just, in any situation, look for the positives and surround yourself with people that are the same.
‘I’m doing well. I’m able to keep doing all the things that I enjoy, spend a lot of time with my family, and I hope to be around for a lot longer yet.’
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