I am a man who was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2008 and have gone through surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.
I am a survivor, and I have a mammogram yearly along with daily self-breast examination.
I discovered I had an issue starting earlier that year by performing self-breast examination, being aware that my sisters and a cousin had been diagnosed with breast cancer and have since passed.
Being a male with no examples of breast cancer in other men or awareness, it was a troubling time for me. Reading all the necessary materials to understand why I may have this disease and coming to understand this through genetic testing.
Being a male in this society limits information to women’s diagnosis of breast cancer. The majority of the studies and funding are geared towards their survival and treatment. I would like to bring awareness to men or males to understand that this can happen to us also, and it is very important to pay attention to your body.
For example, with me, I discovered that I had a pimple-like bump on the right side of my nipple on my left breast. Thinking that it was just a pimple under the skin and had not risen to the top, I continued to drive 18-wheelers across the country for more than 8 months before being diagnosed with breast cancer. The bump or lump had expanded to the size of my little fingertip.
Once a biopsy was performed, it was diagnosed with breast cancer and scheduled for surgery. It took an additional month for me to schedule this surgery because I was traveling over the road and going back and forth from Dallas, Texas to Los Angeles, California to spend time with my children during a marital separation while earning a living driving an 18-wheeler.
However, the stress induced upon me gave rise to the spread of cancer to my lymph nodes under my left armpit. During surgery, it was discovered that I had one lymph node out of 15 that was malignant, which caused me to go to chemo and radiation.
This also developed into lymphedema, which causes my left arm to swell at various times of the year given the weather and sleeping patterns, which resulted in me having an annoying compression sleeve that I no longer wear, but the lymphedema has become controllable in a sense.
My goal since then has been to find a way or platform to express to other men the importance of self-breast examination and, if possible, knowing the hereditary and/or medical history of your families. I became aware of BRCA2 in my family after genetic testing. This has given my children an awareness that they may have a 50% chance of developing this disease.
I have become a published author with a poem or two, bringing awareness to cancer.
Moving forward, life can be a challenge for those individuals who have gone through this breast cancer diagnosis in our lives. Our testimonies can be a support to those who are suffering with continuous, or shall I say transitional types of breast cancer.
Be encouraged that it is not the end of our lives but only the beginning of someone else’s story. It is the hopes and dreams of those who share their stories in this newsletter to bring awareness and to support others who need these words of encouragement.
https://a.co/d/03qHU8Ce (“Mine’s Eyes” by Darrell White book)
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C.A.N.C.E.R
These are my thoughts,
I am a breast cancer survivor.
Could a person really tell if they had this disease?
If you have this disease, you know you can survive, because it is
real today in today’s society.
And if you are wondering about this,
you know it is not a negative situation,
because it does not affect every person.
Negativity is never the actual way to feel, nor is it the way to
understand how a person should feel.
Christ has already given us a way of escape. He is the person who
provides us with healing as long as we believe and as long as we
stay real with ourselves.
Eventually, you can be cured. Eventually, you can be relieved of
the pain, even if it is for a few years or in an everlasting state.
Rebounding from this illness is very real and should not be taken
lightly, but yet again we should always be thoughtful and
thankful for the Most-High God who has provided us with a way
of an escape.