Touch your balls & boobs often

Yes, men can absolutely get breast cancer.

I don't talk about it much. It's a thing of the past & I don't want people's sympathetic looks to their feet as the words "sorry" often come out. Once in a while I get an "attaboy" which feels good! Plus, as a man, I have to acknowledge that it's emasculating to say I had breast cancer. It feels wus like.  But, it's cool people. I'm still alive. I'm lucky.

The details are mostly fuzzy mainly because it was ages ago, but also because I had just moved back to Boulder, Colorado in March of 2000 for my 4th tech startup and was working 20+ hours a day so my focus was on making the company work and not letting my new team down. Plus I had chemo brain ~ a common foggy condition shared by those going through chemotherapy.

The diagnosis of "you have breast cancer" was puzzling at first.What in the world are you talking about? Two lumps removed from the left side later followed by 3 rounds of chemo & an eventual change in diagnosis from breast to testicular cancer pronounced the WTF? How do you connect the dots from my boobs to my balls? I lost faith in my doctor and walked out of therapy, probably not thinking clearly enough, frustrated with it all. F-it all I said. Somehow I'm still here. But not completely clear.

2007 and my mom got it bad. I left my job as VP Marketing at IDEA Health & Fitness to help manage her care along with my aunt. Bahia had it a lot worse than me. Much worse than me.

  

Fast forward 15 years after my initial bout and another lump showed up and was removed from my right breast. This time the diagnosis was benign. Hormonal imbalance I was told. Family history also a factor. Duh!

  

I do what I can, when I can to help. Raising money for Susan G. Komen, the Breast Cancer Fund, and pre-drama Lance Armstrong Foundations in late 2000s by organizing and (eventually) winning the Race Across America Team Relay mini-event from San Diego to Flagstaff, AZ in back-to-back years. Collectively we raised over $60,000 for these organization. 

 

These days I serve the most worthy (IMHO) of the non-profits out there, The Keep A Breast Foundation. With focus on prevention, rather than post diagnosis support, I am privileged to serve as data analyst and (now) Wim Hof Method Instructor for KAB and believe in their mission to address breast cancer early, when it is detected, because survival rates is near 100% if this sucker is detected early.

This Saturday I'll be hosting an intimate Wim Hof Method Workshop at my house with all the profits going straight to The Keep A Breast Foundation. October, every October, is Breast Cancer Awareness month. It's also the month of my birthday. And every year I am reminded of the ongoing impact of breast cancer on the lives of individuals, their families, and friends. And I'm still here. Lucky to be here.

The world is messed up and we have a lot of worthy causes to give energy to. I'm not pulling on your heart strings. Okay, maybe a little. But I'm not asking for you to give money. I'm asking you to participate in an event that will actually benefit you by giving you tools to make you healthier, happier, and stronger.

If you care to participate, go to www.unbound-me.com for information and tickets. If you don't want to participate but want to support, there's a donation option as one of the ticket types as well.  Thank you!

Some key figures to pay attention to. If you are to walk away with just one thing, know that mammograms are not a guaranteed method of detecting lumps. Mammograms are basically X-ray images of the breast and don't necessarily show tissue damage. Breastcancer.org recommends performing "monthly breast self-exams, and have a physical examination of your breasts by a health professional every year." KAB has a cellphone app called Check Yourself that walks you through simple steps to perform self exams and set calendar reminders to notify you that it's time to touch your boobs again. Download the app here: https://www.keep-a-breast.org/check-yourself-app  Over 57% of lumps are discovered through self-exams, 18% by accident.

• Check Yourself! at the same time every month. That way, since you know how your boobies are supposed to feel during that time, you can more easily detect if something has changed.
• The best time to do your self-check is about a week after your period ends. At this time, your hormones have leveled out and your boobies are at their most normal state. (Mayo Clinic)
• Breast lumps are not the only physical sign of breast cancer. Symptoms may include breast swelling, dimpling, redness, scaliness, or a lump in the armpit area. (American Cancer Society) 
• Perform breast self-exams in the shower (the soapy water can help your hand glide along, Pace your right hand behind your head. Then, with the middle fingers of your left hand, gently yet firmly press down using small motions to examine the entire right breast, and feel your armpit as well (the breast tissue goes into that area). Gently squeeze your nipple, checking for discharge. Then repeat the process on your left breast.
• If you find a lump, don’t panic. Unfortunately, there is a high ‘false positive’ rate on breast self-exams, which is why they are no longer recommended for cancer screening. The lump could be any number of things, like a cyst. However, it’s a good idea to let your doctor know what you found. He or she will guide you from there.

Hey doods, 

• About 1 in 833 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer. That's about 2,700 new cases in 2019. 500 of these individuals will die from it. Men are luckily the outcast of breast cancer.
• As of January 2019, there are more than 3.1 million women with a history of breast cancer in the U.S.
• 1 in 8 (12%) women will develop invasive breast cancer in 2019, resulting in an estimated 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer in the U.S.  This is just in the US.
• About 42,000 women in the U.S. are expected to die in 2019
• In women under 45, breast cancer is more common in African-American women than white women. 
• Breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer. Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women.
• About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer.