Hoy has smartly stepped up to support this difficult time in his life.
Steve Peters is a man Hoy knew could make a difference.
The list of athletes Peters has worked with – the public list he likes to talk about – is a high-profile ‘who’s who’, ranging from Steven Gerrard to Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The donkeys in the front yard of the psychiatrist’s country house belie that glitzy, glamorous frame.
But their quiet nature makes perfect sense when you spend a few hours in the company of Peters and Hoy.
Peters was Hoy’s first point of contact throughout his career when it came to training and calming his mind to be at his peak in and around Olympic competition.
He was also one of the first people Hoy called last year when he received his terminal diagnosis.
Initially, Peters was part of the firefighting phase of what Hoy’s wife Sarra describes as a “deep grief” in the first few days after the diagnosis.
But over time, with the help of Peters, Hoy began to find a new purpose.
Firstly, it aims to raise awareness of the limitations of current prostate cancer services in the UK. Both Hoy’s father and grandfather have had prostate cancer.
Understandably, given that an earlier diagnosis could have shifted his diagnosis from terminal to manageable, the 49-year-old Scot eloquently argues that a national screening program for men from their 45th birthday should be made a priority.
But crucially, his approach is also to show other people with cancer that sport and exercise can still be a positive part of their lives, even through their treatment.
Peters explains, “What Chris did when he was confronted with this disease was he said, ‘Okay, what’s the plan?’ After we went through the initial stages of the shock and sadness of it, he came out the other side and picked up the target.
“And that was to reach other people. It became a mission for him.”
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