I have an important story to share with all of you that comes from one of my nearest and dearest friends. Dr. Beth has been a regular contributer to our website and has always offered her help and expertise towards my projects. She is a wonderful mother, wife, and an incredibly gifted woman. She is a constant and faithful friend who has a positive spirit about her that brings out the best in everyone around her. She was my first friend when I moved to Massachusetts and one of the people I was most sad to leave when we moved back home.
Beth’s husband was diagnosed with breast cancer last October and it was a life-changing event for their family. Not only was this news disappointing, but more disappointing was the lack of awareness that men could even suffer from this type of cancer. Beth decided that she wanted to be proactive and educate people on this disease and how it impacts men too.
This story is in Beth’s words and we thank her for sharing them!
How My Mammogram Saved My Husband’s Life
By Dr. Beth
Last October, on the day of my mammogram, I jokingly said to my husband, “Do you know what happens during a mammogram? They say, ‘Put your breast on this plate, Mrs. Conners.’ I put my hand at chest level. “And then they slam a plastic clamp down on top of it!” To my surprise, I felt a lump; but it wasn’t in my breast.
It was in his.
So began our odyssey into breast cancer, or male breast cancer, to be specific. We were lucky: my husband’s cancer was caught early and was very treatable. As I write this, he is through his radiation treatments and is thought to be cancer-free.
Many people told me that his cancer would make me “appreciate things in life” and that I would “learn what was important” from this. However, I already, every day, was thankful for our lives together. I already appreciated my wonderful husband, our two beautiful little children, and our happy lives together. I didn’t need cancer to make me slow down and take stock of what I had: I already was well aware.
But cancer did teach me some things:
* I learned that 1,700 men are diagnosed in the US with breast cancer each year, but that most of my friends hadn’t heard of it.
* I learned that approximately 1/3 of diagnosed men die because their cancer is caught too late.
* I learned that the preponderance of breast cancer resources have the word “women” in them and not “men” at all.
* I learned that cancer brings out the best in many of our friends and relatives, and the worst in others.
* I learned that I will never again feel completely safe and secure in our lives, and that life can be fragile.
* I learned that the very best advice was that given to us by my husband’s oncologist: ‘Go out and live!’
Breast cancer touched my family’s life this past year, and we are stronger for it. But we were lucky. If I hadn’t found the lump, if my husband had not gone to the doctor’s, if he hadn’t opted for the surgery he did, things could have been different. And they are different for hundreds of men each year – men who can’t believe that they can also get breast cancer.
I hope that our story can touch the life of someone’s brother, husband, grandfather, son, or friend to make a difference.
**We hope our readers find these pieces informative. If you would like to share your story with our readers, please email me at [email protected]. We would love to raise awareness about health issues and how they impact families.**