Why is it when people think about breast cancer they automatically think that it is about women only? The reality is whether you are man, woman, child or dog if you have breast you can get breast cancer. It is true that women are 100 times more likely than men to get the breast cancer diagnosis.
With women 1 out of 8 will get the diagnosis in their lives. OK think about that for a minute if you have 16 female friends 2 of them will be diagnosed. That is a very scary fact.
Every year 1970 men in the United States alone are diagnosed with breast cancer. I had to do a speech the other day for my college class and it was an informative speech on breast cancer. When I asked the men that were present if they have ever checked their breasts for any abnormal lumps they looked at me like I had three heads. They never have given it any thought. I found that to be a bit of a surprise. Yes I know it because of my history and research on breast cancer but I was shocked that men are not told by their doctors to check their breast as well. So it got me thinking I wonder what other types of cancers men are not being told about.
I asked the men that were here if when they go to the doctor if they are being instructed to check for lumps in other areas of their bodies such as testicles. They all said no. Why is that? Why are men not being told about checking for testicular cancer? In this country alone over 8,000 men will be diagnosed with testicular cancer in a year. Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men between the age of 20 and 34. The second most common cancer in men 35-39 and the third most common cancer in boys 15-19, yet doctors are not telling them to check on a regular basis!