Cancer Kickin’ Warrior: Men are not exempt from breast cancer

Dear Warriors,

By now I’m sure you all have heard of the singer Beyonce. As famous as she is, this column is about someone who is even more important to our readers. This person is Beyonce’s father, Matthew Knowles. Knowles went on Good Morning America and in an interview with Michael Strahan announced to the world he was diagnosed with stage 1a breast cancer. With all of Knowles’ success as a powerhouse in the musical industry, this did not stop cancer from invading his life. He courageously shared his story with the hopes that other men know they are not exempt from what use to be considered a “woman’s” disease. This is Knowles ‘story.

“I noticed, because I wear white T-shirts, I had a dot of blood on my T-shirt. The first day I was like, ‘Oh, OK, and no big deal ... maybe it’s something that just got on my T-shirt.’ Second day I looked and the same thing and I was like, ‘Eh ... interesting.’

“Then on the third day I was like, ‘What is this? I wonder what this is.’

“A couple of days passed, and I didn’t have any type of discharge. Then on the fifth day, I saw another tiny drop of blood. I told my wife, I said, ‘Look at this,” And she says, ‘You know, when I cleaned the sheets the other day I saw a drop of blood on it, and I didn’t pay any attention to it — but this is kind of weird.’ I immediately went to my doctor.

“When I had the blood on my T-shirt initially I didn’t think it was breast cancer. My mind went a lot of places. My mind went to what medication I was on, because different medications might have caused some sort of discharge ... and then I thought, just because of the risk factor, that it could be breast cancer and I would go get a mammogram. My mother’s sister died of breast cancer, my mother’s sister’s two and only daughters died of breast cancer and my sister-in-law died in March of breast cancer with three kids — a 9-, 11- and a 15-year-old — and my mother-in-law had breast cancer. So breast cancer has been all around me. I go to my doctor and he suggested I get a mammogram, but first he said, ‘Let’s get a smear.’

“So they got a smear of the blood, and it was nonconclusive. Then we got a mammogram and that’s when we saw that, in fact, there was breast cancer there. At least they thought. The next step is to get an ultrasound and a needle biopsy. That’s when they determined it for sure — I had breast cancer. It was July and I had surgery immediately, and that’s when we got back the BRCA results, a genetic test used to determine a person’s chance of developing breast cancer. I’m still getting test results back.”

Warriors, even though this is rare, it is still serious. Please read the full story.

Go to https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/mathew-knowles-reveals-battling-breast-cancer-men-speak-65979408

Reach Inez Whitehead-Dickens at callherid8@aol.com.