Page 9 - Florida Sentinel 10-14-22

Feature
Women Are Not The Only Ones With Breast Cancer
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
Although the percentage is very small (1%), men also get breast cancer. In 2022, about 2,710 American men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer, and about 530 are expected to die from the disease. Men and women have the same type tissues in the breasts, but in puberty the hormones in girls’ bodies cause the breast to grow, whereas in boys the hormones restrict the growth.
A Tampa man talks about his experience after learning he had breast cancer.
Lance Stephens no- ticed a knot in his breast, but like most men he brushed it off, even saying it must be a rising. That was in Novem- ber of 2020.
However, when his wife, Nikki noticed it, she imme- diately said they had to make a trip to the doctor’s office. “I still felt that it was just a ‘ris- ing’ and the doctor would lance it and I’d be on my way.,” he said. That was not the case. His primary care physician sent him to a skin doctor, who referred him to a
doctor who does breast ex- aminations. The doctors did not believe it was a cyst.
The next move for Mr. Stephens was a visit to Tower Imaging for a biopsy procedure in March, which confirmed the knot was can- cerous, in Stage 3. The news was devastating for he and his wife. They learned that a minute portion of the cancer was in his lymph nodes. The cancer removal surgery was in May of 2021.
“I thought breast cancer was for women, but the doc- tor told me a small percent- age of men do get breast cancer,” he said.
Ironically, the weekend he received the news, he and his wife attended a survivor celebration for his god- mother, a cancer survivor.
The 50-year-0ld Project Manager for Verifone, Stephens did 12 weeks of chemotherapy and 5 weeks of radiation, which did not restrict his work. “I worked every day.” He does have a daily medication that he takes.
A minister who was or- dained a ‘Reverend’ by Rev. Dr. Bartholomew Banks at St. John Progressive Mis- sionary Baptist Church is 2019, Rev. Stephens said he relied heavily on his faith. He shared that faith with
REV. AND MRS. LANCE (NIKKI) STEPHENS
someone at the facility where
“Every day, she’d come in crying. I told her that the worrying was interfering with her healing process. I asked her to turn it over to God. She didn’t come in cry- ing after that conversation.
“My faith carried me through this. I thank God for my wife being in my life. She did not take ‘no’ for an an- swer when I didn’t want to go to the doctor,” he explained. “It was a battle, but I turned it over to God.”
What he does now is en- courage other men to take additional steps if something is abnormal in their bodies. “It could be breast cancer. Men, we have to get checked out!”
He and his wife, the par- ents of 2 adult children, plan to participate in the “2nd An- nual Breast Cancer Ride,” Oct. 23, 2022, noon to 6 p.
m., riding from MacFarlane Park to Harley-Davidson in Brandon. All proceeds will go to the American Cancer Soci- ety and Sisters Network. The event is sponsored by Plat- inum Angelz.
According to published information, the signs and symptoms of breast cancer in men to watch out for include:
*a firm lump felt in the breast, often right under the nipple
*a lump in the armpit *nipple pain
*nipple turning inward *nipple discharge (clear
or bloody)
*sores or a rash on the
nipple and areola (the dark area around the nipple)
*changes to the breast skin, such as irritation, red- ness, dimpling, or puckering
*change in the size or shape of the breast.
he was
being
treated.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2022 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY PAGE 9-A