Senator Jim Molan reveals what saved him in lead up to cancer diagnosis

Senator Jim Molan is no stranger to the battlefield.

The retired major general has proudly served his country for 40 years.

But throughout the last six months, the 71-year-old has been in combat with a new enemy - an aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis.

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"I didn't think to myself, this could be cancer," he told A Current Affair's Leila McKinnon from his home in Canberra.

"It started with a pain in the back. And the pain in the back started to move down my leg, down my right leg."

Mr Molan then remembered going for an MRI scan where a lesion was found.

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It had eaten through a disc in his back, which is what caused the pain.

"Now that saved my life, because if I hadn't had that pain, when they finally did what they call a PET scan on me it lit up like a Christmas tree. I had lesions on bones all over my body, but it had not gone into any of the organs," he said.

He said the prospect that it could be cancer, "came as a shock" to him.

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"I've had a very, very active life and I've worn my body out severely… I spent most of my life as an infantry man … I don't feel as though I'm 71," Mr Molan said.

He said knowing what his death could do to his wife was the hardest thing to deal with.

"Without doubt … that was a tough month … but when we got to the end of that month, and we've got the report, yes, it is prostate cancer. We were wrapped … because it could have been 10 times worse," Mr Molan said.

"And the thing with prostate is that it's not curable, but it's manageable, totally manageable … so, all we had to do then over the next five months was be treated."

When Mr Molan was diagnosed he knew it was aggressive and that he had to act fast.

He then started hormone, radiation and chemo treatment immediately with his close family by his side, including his wife Anne, his four children and his grandchildren.

"Jim is the base from which we launch, the strength in our family and Jim is a big bloke a powerful figure … to have Jim not there would have been inconceivable for us," Mrs Molan said.

The Senator said he believes if he had prostate cancer 20 years ago, he could have passed away already.

"In the last 20 years, the changes that medical science have made to this particular disease is incredible," he said.

"I've been given an extraordinary opportunity now for 'X' number of years going into the future."

The military man has much more he wants to achieve, but at the moment he said his greatest achievement would be his latest scan results, which were positive.

Having had prostate cancer for some time without knowing, Mr Molan said he has a message to the men of Australia.

"I joined an elite group of 18,000 Australians each year who are diagnosed with prostate cancer.  I joined a group 230,000 who are living with prostate cancer. Fortunately, I have not joined a group of 3300 who have died of prostate cancer each year. My message really is take it seriously," he said.

"If you don't take it seriously, then … you might die. The people around you will suffer greatly … get tested."

For more information about prostate cancer visit the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, here.