When you think of breast cancer, chances are you think of menopausal women. While the focus has expanded to younger women — who can be at risk too — another demographic remains all but ignored even during Breast Cancer Awareness Month: men.
Men don't have breasts the way women do, but there is still breast tissue under those hard (or not so hard) pecs. And where there is breast tissue, there can be breast cancer. The issue is all but forgotten in the focus on women. Yes, women are far more likely to be affected, but a huge percentage of men never consider the fact that they could be victims of what is seen mainly as a woman's disease.
That changed when Peter Criss, ex-drummer of KISS, came forward with details of his battle against breast cancer. Celebrity breast cancer stories pop up in the news regularly — but breast cancer in a guy, and a famous one at that, should have caused a bigger stir than it did. If you start digging, you'll find several news stories on men who have dealt with breast cancer, not in their wives, but in their own bodies.
Peter Criss came forward with his story because he knew it would land in the media. He may be an ex-band member, but he's still well known to rockers — and according to this news story, Criss felt he should let his macho fans know that breast cancer isn't only a female disease.
While the KISS founding member might be one of the most famous men to share his story, he's not alone.
Mark Partain shared his struggle with male breast cancer, along with 22 other men, on a CNN special. The special ran at the end of September, just in time for October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Other male survivors have been interviewed by news sites as part of their breast cancer coverage. Still, it's not a well-known fact that men can and do suffer from this disease.
Fewer than 1% of breast cancer cases are in men, but that small percentage still accounts for approximately 1,900 males diagnosed with the disease — and of those, nearly a quarter will die from it. The reason for the high lethality: most men don't think to check with their doctor when they find an odd lump in their chest. Men tend to avoid doctors more than women and tend to be "tough." In this case, being tough could mean ending up dead. Men aren't encouraged to have breast cancer screening procedures, so it's important they report any oddities to their doctor. In Criss's case, doctors assumed his painful lump, noticed at the gym, was merely a nodule. Fortunately they realized it was cancer in time to treat it. Others aren't so lucky.
In 1991, John W. Nick, a man from Long Island, NY, died. He had been to doctors various times over an 8-year period and none of them recognized his symptoms as breast cancer. By the time they did discover it, it was too late, and despite treatments, Nick passed away. His family established a foundation in his name to help other men with this cancer and to educate the public about male breast cancer.
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The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
