Although it might sound unusual, recent findings suggest that men can develop breast cancer as well. According to Michael Singer, a breast cancer survivor, men should also receive moral support when addressing this issue.
Male Breast Cancer Awareness Week is one of the latest initiatives to raise awareness about the fact that there are many men out there suffering from this devastating disease.
Singer stresses that even if the National Football League supports women in their fight with this condition, they didn’t mention anything about men in their campaign. He said that it is frustrating to see that most people are unaware of this problem.
Singer is backed up by Stephen Cone, another breast cancer survivor, who underlines that most men living with this disease feel invisible. Besides NFL, Susan Komen has never mentioned anything about male breast cancer as well.
Based on the statistics from the American Cancer Society, men are 100 times less likely to develop breast cancer compared to women, but even so, 2,600 receive a diagnose every year and around 440 usually die.
It is worth mentioning that this condition is harder to detect in men because most of them do not expect to develop this disease. It is very unlikely for a man to do a self-chest exam or to go for a mammogram.
According to Dr. Paula Klein, a Mount Sinai Beth oncologist, there is a common misbelief that men cannot develop this type of medical condition, so most doctors and patients ignore lumps and other signs of cancer.
In such cases, the proper diagnose is delayed or never given. That is why men who get this disease have a higher mortality rate compared to women. Needless to say that little is known in the medical field about this unusual phenomenon.
Almost all studies regarding breast cancer focus on women, so men have to live with the stigma of a deadly disease that usually affects women.
Cone confessed that he had to join a women’s cancer support group in order to learn more about breast cancer and how to deal with it.
Singer also told that after being diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer, he couldn’t find the power to say ‘breast cancer,’ so he referred to it as ‘chest cancer’ during a conversation. That is why he encourages all men suffering from this disease to understand that they are not alone.
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