FORMER PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan has revealed he is terminally ill with prostate cancer.
Mr McQuillan told BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show he has between a year and three years to live.
"I don't know how long I have to live - a couple of years at most probably.
"I've got cancer... a lot of people have to cope with this and I and my family are going through this now."
Mr McQuillan, who is in his sixties, received the diagnosis in the first week of November.
He said his prostate cancer is a rare form which was not picked up by standard tests.
"My father had exactly the same problem and had received a prostate diagnosis at exactly the same age," he said.
"He died at the age of 83 from a heart attack.
"Unfortunately the version I have got is the seriously aggressive version and my prognosis is an awful lot shorter."
He said he would make the most of the time he has left.
"I look on it in a positive way in that I have a year left and I have time to do everything I want to do," he said.
"I have time to sort everything out and say goodbye to all the people I want to say goodbye to."
Mr McQuillan said he was not frightened of death.
"In my career I have missed death probably more than a dozen times," he said.
"The first time anybody tried to kill me I was 15-years-old and walking home from school."
