PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. — October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness and honor those who've lost their battles to a disease that affects hundreds of thousands.
But the month is also a reminder for men and women to do regular self-examinations.
Kansas City man Bret Miller found his first lump when he was 17.
"I was actually sitting up in the living room and just did a stretch back, scratched my chest, and I found a lump right here, below my right nipple," Bret said.
In 2010, he was diagnosed with breast cancer. He was only 24 then. Bret went through five months of treatment and was cleared in September that same year.
Now, Bret's been in remission for 12 years, but he often wishes male breast cancer was talked about more.
"I wish I would’ve been more aware of it, that something like this could happen," Bret said.
Peggy Miller, Bret's mother, stayed by his side the whole way through, offering immense support.
"I expected my daughter to possibly be diagnosed, but to have a son? And at his age? Who could’ve believed that? Nobody! I mean, we didn’t. The doctors didn’t," Peggy said.
Breast cancer is typically classified as a female disease. University of Kansas Hospital said that, of the population of breast cancer cases, only 1% are male.
"If you’re that 1%, it’s very large," Peggy said.
During treatment, Peggy and Bret wanted to create a community of survivors. From there, Male Breast Cancer Happens was born.
The global non-profit offers advice and support, not only for the men going through it, but also to their caregivers. Bret and his family had no prior knowledge of the way the disease affected men, so they wanted to forge a path for men with breast cancer. They host conventions and have Facebook pages where men who have or had breast cancer can connect and lean on one another.
"It’s about being in the time and need of those families, when they think they’ve got a cancer diagnosis, especially with the usual breadwinner of their family, and what’re they gonna do, but giving them answers," Peggy said.
But the non-profit is also about spreading awareness. They host events and hand out a variety of merchandise, from bracelets, bandanas and T-shirts. All their hard work is to remind men that the disease can shake their lives, too. Group members never cease to preach the importance of monthly self-examinations.
Dr. Kelsey Larson at University of Kansas Hospital said men are less likely to get early detection because they don't have annual mammograms, like women.
"It’s just having that self-awareness that something’s changing and being confident that you have a provider you could go to and speak up," Dr. Larson said.
Speak up, or, in the words of Peggy, "If you find something, do something."
"We all have breast tissue, and that’s what the cancer’s affecting," Bret said. "Go to the doctor. Quit staying in this old mindset of throw some dirt on it and walk it off. Go get it checked, because it’s the difference between life and death."
Male Breast Cancer Happens offers resources, survivor stories and self-examination cards in different languages.
