Sir Chris Hoy has revealed his “selfless” wife kept her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis a secret while she dealt with his cancer treatment.

Sir Chris, one of Britain’s most successful Olympians, revealed his final prognosis last weekend after announcing in February that he had been diagnosed with cancer.

According to an extract from his memoir, All That Matters: My Toughest Race Yet, published in The Sunday Times, Sir Chris, 48, praised his wife Sarra for her unwavering support as he faced “this absolute crisis in the middle of my own”.

He recalled that she went in for a routine MRI — seven days after her cancer diagnosis — for doctors to investigate a tingling sensation on her face and tongue.

Sir Chris said: “So while she was dazed with shock, she went for the scan, saying there would be a chance for her to lie down for an hour, joking that it was as close as a day of spa like her. obtain. After that, she continued to be totally and completely supportive, making me banish all thoughts of her MRI scan, given that her symptoms were long gone.

“Then one evening in December, after our children Callum and Chloe had gone to bed, Sarra looked serious and said she had something to tell me. I immediately knew it was something big because Sarra, always so strong in any situation, was starting to break down and was struggling to get the words out. “Do you remember the scan I went to?” she began through teary eyes. “Well, they think it might be multiple sclerosis.” I immediately broke down, distraught both by the news and by the fact that she had received her without me there.

“She went on to explain that they called her and told her a month ago. It was so hard to try to calculate that she had absorbed the horror of this diagnosis on her own without sharing it with me to protect me. I tried to let the words sink in as my mind raced trying to understand what had happened to her as she accompanied me to each of her own hospital appointments.

“As with my diagnosis, she was the one who brought me back to the present, trying to reassure me, saying, ‘Look at me, I’m fine now, I’m here, I’m OK.’

MS is a chronic condition that affects the brain and spinal cord and cannot be cured, but medications and other treatments can help alleviate symptoms that include extreme fatigue, vision problems, and difficulty walking or balancing.

Sir Chris wrote: “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; Sarra, so fit and well, able and healthy, was facing this absolute crisis in my midst.

“Christmas was coming up and as we were trying to prepare for what I felt at the time could be my last, she got a call from her consultant. He put it on speaker and we both listened. The last scan had been worse and confirmed that Sarra had very active and aggressive MS and needed treatment very quickly.

“I sat with tears streaming down my face as I listened to Sarra calmly tell the doctor that her husband had recently been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and simply say, ‘I need you to help me get through this.’ She asked some sensitive, practical questions, then thanked the doctor for calling. I couldn’t fathom how much strength it took to be able to take this news with such force.”

Sarra started treatment while Sir Chris was finishing chemotherapy in March.

He said she receives medication through an intravenous drip at hospital visits every six months.

The Olympian describes his wife as ‘the center of my life’, writing: ‘Within minutes of talking to her that first night, one night in Edinburgh in 2006, I knew there and then that she was my everything. search for.”

The couple married four years later and had two children, Chloe, seven, and Callum, 10.

He said in his book: “Sarra amazed me with everything she faced. She has supported and encouraged me every step of the way, but rarely talks about her own symptoms.

“She’s trying to stay focused on the here and now and control what she can, staying as active, healthy and strong as she can… Life is different now, but I think we’ve found our rhythm. The past year has taught us that life is fragile and we should treat it with kindness, even if it doesn’t treat us the same in return. After all, today could be the best one we have!”