Beers with mates at the pub leads to shock cancer diagnosis for Melbourne man

A Melbourne man made a shock cancer diagnosis as a result of fooling around with his mates at the pub.

Mark "Cricket" Osler was enjoying a couple of beers with mates at the pub in the lead-up to Christmas.

"One of the guys was leaving and walked past me and gave me a bit of a sidekick to the backside as he left just to say, 'see you later', and it started from there," Mr Osler said.

In the weeks that followed, the 59-year-old was in excruciating pain and he was encouraged by his chiropractor to get an X-ray.

"I walked in there thinking I was going walk out with either a fracture or a bruised coccyx," Mr Osler said.

"It absolutely floored me, and I was sort of numb for about two days ... I just couldn't comprehend what I'd been told."

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The news was in mid-January that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer that had already spread to his lower spine.

Mr Osler is currently undergoing chemotherapy before starting radiation in the coming months and says he wants other men to learn from his experience.  

"My goal is to try and get guys to just lose the attitude of 'she'll be right' and get out and get checked twice a year, go to your GP," he said.

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"Often it is nothing, but when it is something it can be something really serious," oncologist Dr Allan Zimet told 9news.

"And if we catch it early, we can do something about it.

"Prostate cancer is a very manageable cancer for people to live, or men to live long periods of life with and good quality life."