Male breast cancer is a thing, warns Brisbane man

It’s thought of as a women’s diseases, but on rare occasions men can be diagnosed too. This is what it’s like to be diagnosed with breast cancer as a man.

Breast cancer patient Ross Schumacher flanked by clinical nurse consultant Ash Mondolo and surgeon Dr Ben Lancashire

Breast cancer was the last thing on Ross Schumacher’s mind when he found a lump near his nipple last month.

But at 63 Mr Schumacher has joined the 200 Australian men who are diagnosed each year.

The Brisbane man has already undergone surgery at Mater Private Hospital Brisbane and is about to begin chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

A freelance TV cameraman, Mr Schumacher had just returned home from filming an overseas golf tournament when he realised something was wrong.

“I was just relaxing on the couch at home when I found a lump on my chest, just beside my right nipple,” he said.

“I’d had a few cysts before but this seemed very different, very hard. Straight away my wife, who’s a nurse, said ‘You are seeing a GP tomorrow.”

Following an urgent scan and biopsy, an anxious Mr Schumacher returned to his GP.

“My GP told me that the biopsy had shown breast cancer. I said ‘So male breast cancer is a thing?’ and she replied, ‘Absolutely — one in 100 cases are male.’ ”

Breast cancer takes the lives of 3200 of people nationally and Mr Schumacher’s mother died from the disease 30 years ago.

Mr Schumacher successfully beat prostate cancer five years ago. The eldest of his two sons battled testicular cancer as a teenager and his youngest son also survived a brain tumour as a child after being diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type 1.

“I was obviously surprised to find out I have breast cancer but I’ve been exposed to cancer several times before,” Mr Schumacher said.

“This is just another type of cancer and it can happen to anyone, even though it’s rare for men.

“Some people say there’s a stigma for men, but that’s not true. Everyone has been very empathetic to me and there’s no need to be secretive about this – it’s totally the opposite,” he said.

Mr Schumacher was referred to breast cancer specialist Ben Lancashire at Mater Private Hospital Brisbane for surgery to remove the cancerous growth.

Mater is Queensland’s leading centre for breast cancer treatment and research, with one in every four of the state’s breast cancer patients treated at Mater facilities across South East Queensland, Townsville, Mackay and Rockhampton.

“Breast cancer is very rare in men — I usually see only one man each year out of hundreds of patients,” Dr Lancashire said.

“The treatment of male breast cancer is the same as for women with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy and the survival rates are much the same too.

“There’s a lot of awareness of prostate and bowel cancer among men, but not breast cancer, so it can be a real shock for those patients.”