Olympic Hero Shines A Light on Prostate Cancer
Written by Harry Turnbull
Sir Chris Hoy’s new memoir chronicling his terminal cancer diagnosis and its aftermath makes for grim reading.
And, as if sudden news about stage 4 prostate cancer wasn’t bad enough, his wife Sarra was hit with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis at the same.
A golden couple’s entire world shattered by a couple of seemingly routine scans.
However one result of Hoy’s book All That Matters and his public discussions has been heightened awareness of prostate cancer, Britain’s second most common form of tumour.
In Hoy’s case it appeared a gene was the main factor while for others lifestyle, ethnicity, hormonal imbalances and age can be causes or contributors.
Given the family background, it is perhaps surprising that Hoy barely touches on this aspect of his experience in his book although Christie’s in Manchester, the oncology hospital he attends, does refer to gene related diagnoses as important for the public to be aware of.
A spokesman for the Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance said “During reports of Sir Chris Hoy’s courageous disclosure of his metastatic prostate cancer diagnosis, it has been revealed that he has a family history of prostate cancer, with both his father and grandfather having the disease.”
Other red flags for the condition are sudden urinary incontinence, weakness in lower limbs, lower back pain and sudden weight loss.
Doctors can carry out a digital test and order a test known as PSA but this is not foolproof and can indicate negative when cancer is present.
Should patients be routinely screened for prostate cancer if they are high-risk?
- Current evidence suggests routinely screening patients with a high risk of prostate cancer does not help prevent deaths and may lead to unnecessary investigations and treatment.
- Current guidance does not support regular PSA screening in patients with a family history or an underlying inherited cancer predisposition syndrome. This may change with BRCA2 gene variants in men as new evidence emerges.
- Cancer Research UK outlines that asymptomatic men aged 50 and over can usually ask their GP for a PSA blood test if they wish.
- Prostate Cancer UK suggests patients consider asking their GP for a PSA test from the age of 45 if they have a high risk of prostate cancer.
“The decision to request a PSA test should be made on a case-by-case basis with careful counselling regarding the risk of false positives or negatives and describing any potential onward investigations”, says the Alliance.
In Chris Hoy’s book he reflects on the journey over the past year and concludes that it is far from over. Others who have been diagnosed with terminal cancer have survived longer than his projected period of 2-4 years and some leading experts he has spoken to have expressed less gloomy outlooks.
However, it takes a particular kind of resilience to air these thoughts publicly while going through such trauma and demonstrates why Hoy, with six Olympic golds and a silver, remains one of the country’s greatest ever sports stars.
He continues to enjoy his pursuits and caring for his two young children.
All That Matters, Sir Christopher Hoy (Hodder & Stoughton 2024)
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Header image by Megan Trace on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0), some rights reserved
