DALLAS, TX, November 21, 2008
/24-7PressRelease/ -- George Fasciano couldn't believe it when what his doctor told him he had breast cancer.
" 'How can a guy get male breast cancer?' I said, 'this is just a woman's disease,' "Fasciano said.
Marshall Anderson agrees.
"I was mad. I couldn't believe that something like that would happen to me. I'm a guy! How could I have breast cancer?," the breast cancer survivor said.
About 1,700 men are diagnosed with male breast cancer every year. Nearly 500 men die from the disease annually while 370 die from testicular cancer.
"It is stunning to think that more men die of breast cancer than testicular cancer and I think as our population ages, that's gonna be even more true," Dr. Anton Melnyk of the Texas Cancer Center said.
Health experts said male breast cancer just isn't on the radar.
"Awareness of male breast cancer is important not only for patients, but also for physicians, too," Dr. John Pippin with the Baylor College of Medicine said.
"Education needs to be directed at the docs."
Doctors add that men tend to ignore their symptoms and should be cognizant if they notice a painless lump somewhere in the breast or around the breast.
Other symptoms include: skin dimpling, nipple inversion or discharge and redness or scaling of the skin.
Experts add by the time men finally seek medical care, their breast cancer may be advanced.
"Cancer is one of these things that comes, stays and gets worse. So any symptom that has that nature to it really ought to be checked out," Melnyk said.
Anderson teamed up with Melnyk and the Men's Health Network's to promote their "Dare To Be Aware" male breast cancer awareness campaign.
Currently cancer-free, Fasciano also advocates for education.
He worked with Baylor to get brochures printed for male breast cancer patients, but said he still feels frustrated by the lack of awareness about the disease.
"Then I realized, 'well, let me get involved to see if I can do anything for men to bring about a greater awareness of the risk of cancer.'"
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