Kenny Logan’s voice quiets for a moment as our conversation turns to the plight of Sir Chris Hoy.
The former Scotland rugby international has told Mail Sport how lucky he feels to have contracted prostate cancer early.
How his impromptu decision to get tested after listening to his wife Gabby’s podcast saved his life – and how he’s encouraging others to get tested too.
Logan admits he was dejected when news emerged earlier this month that six-time Olympic gold medalist Hoy has not been so lucky.
Sir Chris revealed his diagnosis was terminal and he has two to four years to live after cancer in his prostate spread to his bones, with tumors also in his shoulder, pelvis, hip, spine and rib. It was an admission that shocked the sporting world and beyond.
“I’m absolutely devastated,” Logan said. ‘I know him personally and his wife Sarra. It’s very difficult to explain how he must feel.
Sir Chris Hoy enjoys the company of the late, great Doddie Weir, who battled ALS
Kenny Logan was confronted with his own diagnosis of prostate cancer four years ago
Hoy, still only 48, was a six-time Olympic champion and remains an inspiration to many
“I can’t imagine what Chris is going through, but the one thing about him is that he is a strong individual and his family is close. There will be great moments together, but there will also be difficult moments.’
That inherent strength in Hoy’s character, and the level-headed way he deals with tragic circumstances, is something Logan recognized in another friend, the late, great Doddie Weir.
Sir Chris has already said he was ‘overwhelmed’ by the public response to his recent revelation, resulting in a huge increase in the number of men seeking advice about prostate cancer.
‘There is talk of the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games being named after him as a way to encourage men to get checked. Logan sees parallels in this with fellow rugby star Doddie’s tireless campaign to raise awareness of motor neuron disease when he was diagnosed with the condition in 2016.
“Doddie was a funny guy, a great guy,” he says, “but you saw a different animal when he got ALS. He became even more impressive because he fought for something that wouldn’t save him.
“He fought for something that would save people in five, six, ten years. That’s the making of the man, and I think you’ll see the same with Chris Hoy. He fights for himself, but at the same time he fights for people in the future and that’s all you can say.
‘He is so positive and reminds me of what Doddie was like when he was diagnosed. He’s kept positive by the power he can now give to others, in the sense that he’s more likely to be controlled, you know?
‘I would certainly support a campaign in his name so that men can get checked earlier. Fifty seems old, 45 seems like a good age.
‘We have to educate people, and doctors have to be more alert and say, ‘Okay, you have to get tested.’
‘There should be a national campaign to have PSA tests done at the age of 45. It should be some kind of MOT. It should be the first thing you get done. The way to attack it is to get it early.
‘Chris and Sarra are great individuals, great ambassadors for every person. He is the nicest man you will ever meet. I just wish him all the best and all the love we can give him and hope a miracle happens.
Talking about Hoy brings back the events of August 2022 for Logan and the day his life – and that of his family – changed beyond recognition.
At the age of 48 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Tears flowed and hands were grasped as Logan, Gabby and their son and daughter came to terms with the devastating diagnosis.
“I think the first factors are: are you okay?” he says now. “Gabby and I were like, we’re going to be okay, we’re strong. And then my daughter came in and she saw me crying. She wondered, what’s going on? So because we’re both quite upset, and because you clearly don’t want to hear the words, she was clearly upset too. I said, “I’ve got it at the right time, I’m on top of it.”
Hoy and his wife Sarra have been resolutely positive since going public with their health
Logan admits he was lucky. Many do not have this condition if it is not caught early.
The facts are sobering. One in eight men gets prostate cancer. In Scotland alone, more than 3,800 people are diagnosed with the disease every year. More than 1,000 people die from it every year.
All told, more than 32,000 men in this country are living with prostate cancer. There are more than 490,000 across Britain. Twelve thousand people die every year, and one man loses his life every 45 minutes. Symptoms – which often develop too late – may occur sporadically or not exist at all.
This was the case for Logan. With no symptoms to alert him, it was only after listening to Gabby’s podcast, The Midpoint, and an episode about menopause and women’s health, that he decided to get a blood test for his prostate. That one decision may have saved him from a much more dangerous prognosis.
“I didn’t know I had any problems,” he says, after his entire prostate has been removed.
‘This is really important. It wasn’t like people said, “Yes, I’m going to bed. I get up twice a night and go to pee.” I still do that and I don’t have a prostate. It was my wife’s podcast, which she started during Covid. She did a lot of things about middle age – different things about changing jobs and illnesses and all the different things that come with that stage.
“Davina McCall talked about parts of her body drying out and being different, and the menopause feeling of falling off a cliff. I came back from my walk with the dogs and said, “Davina and women go through this, what do men go through?”
“So I started talking about how quickly a woman can just fall off a cliff, while a man takes a long time for his hormones to drop. So I thought I would get my hormones tested so that I would know, so that I would have some understanding if my hormones had dropped.
“And when I finished it, the doctor said to me, ‘You’re doing absolutely fine. Your hormones are normal, but your prostate is a little high and that probably needs to be looked at.”’
Despite being told again that he was doing well after further examination, he asked a specialist to investigate the matter further.
‘It was December, I was 48. The specialist Declan Cahill said: ‘Look, we’re going to do a biopsy.’ So we just did a biopsy at the end of Covid. And at the end of it all, he said, you’ll have cancer, but right now it doesn’t do anything. It could be five years, it could be two years, it could be six months. So it’s a bit like a time bomb waiting to do something.
‘He’s a really great surgeon and he said, ‘Right, you’re strong, you’re fit, but you have prostate cancer. And I thought: wow!
“He said 40 percent of your friends have this, but they don’t know they have it.
‘I didn’t talk to anyone about it because I didn’t want everyone to say, ‘It’s all right, Kenny. How are you”? Since it could take years, I wanted to keep it between myself and Gabby. I didn’t tell my mother. She didn’t need to know. She was 90 then.
‘I was just very positive and said I was lucky to have found it. I’m lucky I listened to that podcast. I got it at the right time. I’m doing well.
‘Every six months you get tested and suddenly, within a year, my doctor told me that my cancer was there, that it had been stimulated and that it had to come out.
‘He said I could have brachytherapy and radiotherapy, but told me I was young and fit and would probably have to have the prostate removed. I wondered what the consequences would be. I was like, “Erectile dysfunction? I don’t care,” and so I went through that surgical process’
The surgery, Logan says, wasn’t the most pleasant affair, but he was just “glad it was gone.”
“My son and my daughter said, ‘You’re going to be okay, Dad, you’re going to be okay. But at the same time, we all say that. I think I was a little nervous the night before the surgery. But after the operation the first thing you say is: “Did you get everything out? Is there anything left”? Because you want to be sure.
“My doctor told me, ‘Don’t Google it. If you want to ask questions, just ask me. I guess the big headline is always erectile dysfunction, right? So at that moment I didn’t worry about it because I just wanted to live. And then when you’re free of it, that’s the next thing.
‘I was lucky that within three or four months I was back to normal. I think that all has to do with the surgeon and the fact that he’s healthy and all these different things. So I feel lucky that I got through it and that I’m in this position.
‘The only thing about prostate cancer is that you have to look for it. Don’t let it find you. I came across it by listening to a podcast. Exactly the same thing people will do when they read this.
‘When I did a BBC News interview and talked about it, the number of people who posted me on Instagram was like, “I’m clear, thank you for letting me do this. I am now under surveillance. I’m taking it out now. Thank you so much.” These guys hadn’t thought about it yet.
‘We need men to talk about prostate cancer and not be ashamed to talk about the positives and negatives. You do not need to have your prostate removed. You can get the radiotherapy, it all depends, but you have to get it at the right time.”
For more information, visit www.getcheckedearly.org/prostate-cancer