Chris Hoy praised for ‘courage’ in speaking out about terminal cancer diagnosis

Cycling star Sir Chris Hoy has been praised for his courage in speaking out about his terminal prostate cancer diagnosis by a doctor who has spent almost two decades trying to raise awareness of the disease.

Professor Alan McNeill founded the charity Prostate Scotland 18 years ago after his wife’s father and grandfather died from the disease.

He said six-time Olympic gold medal winner Sir Chris would “undoubtedly” have an impact by speaking out.

His comments come after the Edinburgh-born athlete recently revealed he was told last year he still had two to four years to live.

Professor McNeill, a consultant urological surgeon at NHS Lothian, told the PA Scotland news agency: “He should be commended for his courage in sharing this because many people would like to keep it private.

“What he did, I assume he did it specifically to try to help others, so I think he should be admired and grateful for his courage in doing that, because he has a young family and it’s not easy.

“But in doing so, there is no doubt that the issue has been put on the agenda.”

Sir Chris’s diagnosis came after his father and grandfather were diagnosed with the disease, with Professor McNeill urging other men with a family history of prostate cancer to get tested in a bid to detect any cases early.

He said: “If Chris Hoy can spare other people with a similar family story, then he will have done a great thing, another great thing.”

Stressing that “early prostate cancer is curable in most men”, the expert stated that men with a family history of the disease, along with those with a “racial predisposition”, such as Afro-Caribbean men, could be classified as “high risk of prostate cancer.”

Although men have the right to ask their doctor for a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test from the age of 50, Professor McNeill suggested getting checked earlier.

As early-stage prostate cancer often does not present any symptoms, he advised Afro-Caribbean men to get tested when they are 45, adding that those with a family history should get tested a decade earlier than their relative’s age when was diagnosed.

Professor McNeill said: “If their father had prostate cancer at 60, I will say to the man ‘go get your PSA at 50, if your father was 55, go when you’re 45’.”

He said “at least” 3,400 men in Scotland are diagnosed with the disease each year – the equivalent of more than nine a day

“It is the most common cancer in men and with an increasing incidence,” said the doctor.

But he added that “almost every week” he and his colleagues see men in their 50s and 60s suffering from advanced prostate cancer, and added: “After 18 years of trying to raise awareness about Prostate Scotland, it is obvious that We still have work to do. Because to me, each of these men is too much.

“If we can reach men early, when the cancer is still in the prostate, and they receive curative treatment, I’m not a health economist, but I would have thought that not only would their quality of life be better in the long term, but also the cost to the system will be reduced in the long term.

“Because you’re going to go in, get the treatment and that’s it. With the disease more advanced, there are many drug treatments and probably more blood tests, more monitoring, more exams. So with advanced disease, if we can reduce the incidence, that will potentially benefit the health service ultimately.”

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