Chris Hoy, who revealed last week that his cancer is terminal, has praised his wife for her unwavering support as she lives with multiple sclerosis (MS).
The 48-year-old six-time Olympic cycling champion announced last week that he has two to four years to live – and that his wife, Sarra, was diagnosed with MS within weeks of his own devastating cancer news.
In an excerpt from his new memoir All That Matters: My Toughest Race Yet shared in The Sunday Times, Hoy praised his wife for her courage during this tumultuous period, and reflected on how she quietly dealt with the news of her “active and aggressive” MS diagnosis in the throes of her husband’s chemotherapy treatment.
Hoy recalled that Sarra went for a routine MRI – seven days after his cancer diagnosis – for doctors to investigate a tingling sensation in her face and tongue.
“So whilst in a daze of shock, she went off to the scan, saying it would be a chance for her to have a lie down for an hour, joking it was as close to a spa day as she’d get,” Hoy said. “Afterwards, she continued to support me wholly and completely, leading me to push all thoughts of her MRI scan away, given her symptoms had long since disappeared.”
Hoy said that he was distraught to find out that Sarra had kept the news of her MS to herself in order to protect him as he went through chemotherapy.
“She went on to explain [the doctors] had called her and told her over a month before. It was so hard to try to compute that she had absorbed the awfulness of this diagnosis alone, without sharing it with me, in order to protect me,” said Hoy.
“I tried to let the words sink in as my mind was spinning, trying to understand what had been happening to her, all while she had been accompanying me to every one of my own hospital appointments.
“I immediately broke down, distraught both by the news and the fact she’d received it without me there.”
MS is a chronic condition that affects the brain and spinal cord and cannot be cured, but medicines and other treatments can help alleviate the symptoms, which include extreme tiredness, vision problems and difficulty with walking and balance.
“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; Sarra, so fit and well, able and healthy, was facing this absolute crisis in the midst of my own,” said Hoy.
The cyclist recalled the moment Sarra’s consultant called with the news that her MS needed urgent treatment, during which she remained calm.
“I sat with tears rolling down my face as I listened to Sarra calmly telling the doctor that her husband had recently been diagnosed with stage four cancer and simply saying: ‘I need you to help me outrun this’,” he wrote.
“She asked some sensible, practical questions and then thanked the doctor for phoning. I couldn’t quite fathom the amount of strength she showed to be able to take this news with such fortitude.”
Sarra began receiving treatment as Hoy was finishing his chemotherapy in March. She receives her medicine via an intravenous drip at hospital visits every six months.
Hoy met Sarra, a lawyer from Edinburgh, on a night out in 2006, and they married in 2010. They welcomed their first child, Callum, in 2014, and their daughter, Chloe, in 2017.
On her worst days, Sarra, whose condition is incurable and degenerative, can struggle to put her key in the door.
Hoy said, however, that she is enthusiastic about running, going to the gym and remaining positive about both of their conditions – and has even started re-learning the piano to keep her hands moving.
“Sarra has amazed me with all that she has faced,” said Hoy. “She has supported me and encourages me every step of the way, but rarely speaks about her own symptoms. She tries to stay focused on the here and now and controlling what she can by staying as active, healthy and strong as she can for as long as she can.”
