men get breast cancer too

Peter Criss, founding member of rock band KISS, knows that many of his male fans are macho, so he is making the rounds to tell them even tough guys can suffer from a disease usually associated with women — breast cancer.

Criss, who was the band’s drummer on and off from its founding in 1972 until 2004 and the voice on some of its most-beloved classics, including the 1976 Top-10 hit Beth, said too many men don’t seek treatment and think breast discomfort will go away on its own.

But Criss, who discovered a lump in his left nipple in December 2007, said men need to get over their perception that breast cancer is a woman’s disease.

“It can happen to you, and when it does, if you don’t deal with it right away, with your ‘dude’ and your metal and your tattoos, you’ll go in the box and we’ll see you,” says Criss, 63, who is now cancer free after undergoing a lumpectomy in February 2008 and a mastectomy the following month.

While breast cancer among men is one hundred times less common than among women, it can be deadly. The American Cancer Society estimated there will be 1,910 new cases of male breast cancer in 2009, and about 440 U.S. men will die this year from the disease.

Criss said he hopes his heavy metal credentials will help mitigate the stigma around breast cancer for men.

“You are no more manly a guy than me — I grew up in Brooklyn,” he said.

The Ottawa Citizen
Thu Oct 22 2009
Page: A14
Section: News
Byline: Phil Wahba
Dateline: NEW YORK
Source: Reuters