Sir Chris Hoy insists he wants to speak to Andy Burnham about doing something “proactive” in the fight against prostate cancer.
Six-time Olympic cycling champion Hoy, 50, was given a terminal stage four cancer diagnosis in 2023 and was told he had “two to four years” to live.
Yet in the near-three years since, Hoy has looked to raise awareness in the battle against prostate cancer – which is the most common form of cancer in UK men – with charity bike rides and various media appearances.
Now, Scottish hero Hoy insists he wants to meet with the new prime minister to develop a new screening system that catches symptoms earlier. Hoy has previously urged all men over the age of 40 to get tested for prostate cancer.
“I can’t see how the government are not coming up with some form of proactive decision,” he told The Guardian. “They say that the risk of testing every man and the number of men who would have elevated PSA [prostate-specific antigen] levels, would then lead to too many being unnecessarily treated, and then having to deal with the consequences of surgery or treatment.
“To me, that’s a treatment issue, not a screening issue … I don’t know why we don’t [have a screening system]. It just doesn’t make sense.
“I also have ambitions to help decision-makers do something proactive. A change of prime minister, with Andy Burnham, might help. I’ve met him a couple of times and he’s good friends with [ex-British cyclist] Chris Boardman. I would love to speak to Andy and see what he thinks we could do.
“I have all kinds of goals and the biggest are raising as much money as we can for these amazing charities, changing perceptions of what is possible during a stage 4 diagnosis and also trying to one day have some proactive gateway to screen men – so less men die of prostate cancer as a result of my diagnosis.
“That would be quite something.”
Alongside his wife Sarra, who has multiple sclerosis, Hoy is looking to raise more than the £3.1m he raised last year in his Tour de 4 cycling event, which takes place in September. And the 50-year-old is encouraged by the research in medical science he has witnessed so far.
“From what I’ve been told by people at the forefront of new treatments, this is the most exciting time for prostate cancer drug development in the last 25 years,” he added.
“They’ve seen a real upturn in new treatments and new therapies.”
The former track cyclist is an 11-time world champion as well as a six-time Olympic champion, who competed for Great Britain at four Olympic Games between 2000 and 2012.
Hoy is Scotland’s most successful Olympian and has the second-most gold medals of any Brit behind Jason Kenny.
