Breast cancer survivor warns other men to get checked - KMSP-TV

Breast cancer is a disease that's almost always associated with women, but a local man is sharing his story in hopes that more men will go to the doctor and get the facts.  

Rob Berry says he thought he was indestructible—until he turned 40.  Although he doesn't have the body he once did, he says he never saw the disease coming.  He says his wife noticed a bump on his neck, but he thought nothing of it.  

The bump didn't go away, and neither did the nagging from his wife or his mother.  After getting tested, he heard the words he never thought he would hear.   Berry had breast cancer.

"I almost hit the ground," Berry told FOX 5.  "'You crazy?  Me?  Breast cancer.  First of all, you do realize I'm a man!?'"
    
Doctors say that's the reason so many men with breast cancer go undiagnosed.  They often don't realize it's possible for them to get it.  It's rare, but breast cancer in men does occur in one in every 100,000 men.  The survival rates are the same as women, but according to the Centers for Disease Control, men are diagnosed at later stages.  

Berry, however, is blessed.  Doctors caught his cancer early at stage one.  It hadn't spread, and he didn't need radiation or chemotherapy, but he chose to have a double mastectomy to eliminate any chances of reoccurrence.  

Berry's surgery was a success, and he says he's much healthier now.   He eats better, and takes frequent walks with his mother, who is also a cancer survivor.  Berry credits his family with encouraging him to get checked as his key to survival, and he says early detection is a key.