Stephen Porter is rethinking the concept of staying alive.
Mr Porter discovered he had prostate cancer in 2020 through his annual Indigenous health check. The cancer had spread to his bones.
Mr Porter, a butcher for 42 years "and a muso for as long or longer", was part of the stolen generation.
The 62-year-old, of Boat Harbour in Port Stephens, is trying to "rework the idea of staying alive".
"Maybe that's not possible in the physical sense, but for me it's important that I make good relationships with people and try to leave a mark," he said.
More than 7350 men are estimated to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in NSW this year, and the disease is expected to claim about 980 lives in that period.
Mr Porter said he always wanted to live a good second half of his life.
"I see too many blokes my age crash and burn," he said.
"In your mind you know you have to make changes to become the old man you see in your future.
"But you don't know how you'll make those changes.
"Then cancer comes along and makes it quite easy."
Mr Porter's cancer was detected through a PSA [prostate-specific antigen] blood test. The cancer had spread to his right upper arm and left pelvis.
Mr Porter said cannabis oil helped him through chemotherapy.
"It saved me," he said, adding he had no nausea or hair loss and put on weight.
"We need prostate cancer awareness and we also need awareness of the wonderful medicine that is cannabis."
He also underwent 20 radiation sessions and now uses a three-monthly hormone implant that blocks testosterone, which can feed prostate cancer growth.
"There will come a point when that treatment will fail," he said.
Medical research, though, gives him hope for a cure.
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