Sir Chris Hoy and family leave UK after Olympic hero's terminal cancer diagnosis

The six-time Olympic champion was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2020, but was later informed it had spread to other parts of his body and is incurable - news he revealed over the weekend

Olympic hero Sir Chris Hoy has taken his family out of the country after revealing his devastating cancer diagnosis.

Hoy, 48 announced in February he had been diagnosed with cancer - before he revealed his cancer was terminal, in an emotional interview over the weekend. He also revealed that his wife Sarra, 40, is battling an aggressive form of Multiple Sclerosis.

The six-time Olympic champ expressed his deepest fear that his young children, Callum and Chloe, might learn about his condition through their peers at school, hearing something like, "I saw your daddy on the news last night and he's going to die."

As such, to protect their family from the media frenzy, Sir Chris and his wife have taken their children on a two-week half-term holiday, hoping the media attention will have died down by the time they return.

Share messages of support for Sir Chris Hoy in the comments section

"Hopefully the dust will have settled" said Sir Chris, honestly expressing his fears: "You know what? It may happen. If it does, we will deal with it."

Amid the chaos of Hoy's illness, they told their children about his cancer diagnosis but had not disclosed anything about Sarra's MS condition to their young son and daughter.

Hoy further shed light on his family's situation in an excerpt from his upcoming book, All That Matters: "Another scan just before Christmas confirmed that Sarra had 'very active and aggressive' MS and needed urgent treatment.

"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."

He continued, "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."

The Hoy's children Callum and daughter Chloe, were just nine and six when he was initially handed the news about his cancer diagnosis and the champion cyclist says he agonised over how to tell them . He recalled that Callum first replied "Are you going to die?" to which Chris replied that "no-one lives forever" but he is hoping "to be here for many, many years".

Despite grappling with an overwhelming mix of fear and uncertainty, he remains focused and wants to raise awareness and "change the perception of stage 4 cancer."

He revealed that he has been given a life expectancy of two to four years. Hoy had initially thought he was dealing with a minor gym injury in his shoulder, only to discover he had advanced prostate cancer that had metastasised to his shoulder, pelvis, hip, spine, and ribs.

Hoy won Olympic medals at the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 games, ending his career with six golds and one silver. His first medal was silver in Sydney in 2000. He then won gold in the 1 km Track time trial in Athens in 2004 followed by three golds in Beijing in 2008 and another two in the London games four years later.

Two years after the London games, he and Sarra welcomed son Callum. Their daughter Chloe was born in September 2017.