I`m fighting prostate cancer: Ian McKellen

London: ‘Lord of the Rings’ star Ian McKellen says he has been battling prostate cancer for six or seven years.

The 73-year-old veteran actor, who is due to attend the UK premiere of ‘The Hobbit’, said he feared the worst but now he happily lives with the disease, which is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men, reported Sun online. "You do gulp when you hear the news. It`s like when you go for an HIV test ? you go `Argh, is this the end of the road?` You monitor it and you have to be careful it doesn`t spread," he said. McKellen said he realised something was wrong after he needed the washroom often at night. "They say you can have it zapped. You can have it snipped but you`re not a candidate for that. You are `waitful watching`. I am examined regularly and it`s contained. It`s not spreading. I`ve not had any treatment," he added. PTI