One day after Kim Borthwick received the devastating news that she had a terminal brain tumour, the 36-year-old mum chanced upon the documentary Cancer Courage and Me, made by six-time Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy, and it motivated her to do something positive in the darkest of times.
Borthwick was diagnosed with an aggressive glioblastoma in January, shortly after seeking medical advice for an “unbearable” headache that she initially put down to tiredness after the festive season. Sadly, she very quickly found herself dealing with a terminal diagnosis while trying to raise her four-year-old twins.
In 2024, when he was just 48, Hoy revealed that he had stage four prostate cancer and had been told that he only had two to four years left to live. Since then, the Scottish track-cycling legend has called for routine prostate cancer screening to be conducted on men at a younger age, revealing that the disease also claimed the life of his grandfather.
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Inspired both by how Hoy and his wife, Sarah, dealt with his diagnosis with their children, and his efforts to make a positive difference for others, Borthwick bought the cyclist’s book All That Matters, and began adopting his mindset, focusing day-to-day on what she could control.
Kim Borthwick with her young family
(Image credit: Courtesy of Kim Borthwick)
By coincidence, a couple of weeks prior to her diagnosis, Borthwick’s mother had bought her twins, Max and Freddie, a book about Chris Hoy called Little People, Big Dreams. The boys became fascinated with the champion’s six Olympic gold medals, and when she was initially discharged from hospital, the family presented her with six replica gold medals, each engraved with a heartfelt tribute: ‘Best Mummy’, ‘Best Wife’, ‘Best Daughter’, ‘Best Sister’ and ‘Best Friend’.
Borthwick went on to meet Hoy in person, got a bike and formed a team to ride his Tour de 4 charity cycling event, which took place last weekend. Unfortunately, the physical toll of her illness has left her unable to take part personally, but her team of friends took on the challenge in her honour, riding to raise awareness for her cause.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Kim Borthwick)
Like Hoy, Borthwick is now devoting much of her remaining time to advocacy, working with the Brain Cancer Justice campaign and trying to generate support from everyone from grassroots cyclists to sport stars, to help tackle a disease where standard treatments and survival rates have remained depressingly unchanged for decades.
“The most shocking thing I was told wasn’t that I might be gone within months”, says Borthwick. “It was that in the last almost 30 years, the treatment options have not changed. So, on the NHS, it’s surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and that’s you.
“I don’t know if I’ll see my boys start school. My diagnosis has given me the clarity to enjoy every moment I have with them. But I have a fire in my belly to affect change for people diagnosed with brain cancer.”
Currently, brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40. Borthwick and the Brain Cancer Justice campaign are calling for a dedicated national lead for brain tumours across the UK, and life-saving systemic changes like universal access to whole-genome sequencing from mandated frozen tumour tissue.
“It’s too late for me,” says Kim. “But I want to make a difference for those who come after me.”
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