BBC Breakfast presenters Sally Nugent and Jon Kay delivered some devastating cancer news during Tuesday’s programme.

Prior to chatting with guest Johnny Nelson about his father, who lost his life to prostate cancer, they discussed Sir Chris Hoy’s most recent diagnosis.

Sir Chris Hoy revealed earlier this year that he had been diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer and that it was incurable.

They also showed a segment featuring specialists discussing a groundbreaking prostate cancer screening programme, which aims to detect the disease in its earliest stages and could potentially “save thousands of lives”.

Following the segment, Jon Kay said, “Let’s talk further about this. Shall we be joined on the sofa by David James from Prostate Cancer Research, the charity that’s released this report, and with him is former world champion boxer Johnny Nelson, who’s been campaigning to raise awareness of prostate cancer, for you’ve got your own reasons,

Jon and Sally on BBC Breakfast(Image: BBC)

Opening up about his own devastating experience, Johnny revealed, “My father passed away from prostate cancer earlier this year, and you know what? He came to England in the late 1950s, and he had that old-school mentality.

“And you hear the horror stories about finger up the bum, but you’ve got to have these uncomfortable conversations, and guys have to feel comfortable having the conversation.

“And he wouldn’t go there. Wouldn’t do it. As my father passed, there was a group of me and my friends, and we talked about it, obviously, the grief and the sadness, and the guys decided to start getting screened.

“Two of them discovered they were diagnosed with prostate cancer, and so it’s just having the awareness and the courage to say, ‘I’m going to do this. I don’t care what the stigma is’.

“Unfortunately, we as men don’t talk to each other enough to feel comfortable doing such a thing, and leaving it too late, my father is a prime example.”

Johnny lost his dad to prostate cancer(Image: BBC)

He continued, “I know two… three people that were diagnosed with prostate cancer and left it too late. So I think this is so, so important.”

As the discussion progressed, Johnny implored other men to seek testing.

He stated, “It’s not until it hits closer to home and makes you sit up and think this is real.

“When it gets close to home, then the reality kicks in. ‘This could be me, it could be my brother’.”

Sally queried whether men are “frightened” of undergoing tests, whilst expert David James highlighted, “And that’s the key thing about prostate cancer, is if you catch it early, the chances of survival are really, really good, but it’s when it’s caught late.

“Like, Sir Chris Hoy, for example, who, unfortunately, you know, in the time of his life, was diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer because his was caught too late.”

Before concluding the interview, Johnny emphasised that prostate cancer “is not a death sentence.”

He added, “A diagnosis of prostate cancer is not a death sentence, and that is the message that guys need to understand, so don’t bury your head in the sand.”

BBC Breakfast airs daily at 6am on BBC One.