Man credits TV advert for saving his life after finding breast cancer lump
A man claims watching a TV advert saved his life after it prompted him to check his chest where he found a “pea-sized lump”.
Jim Allen, 66, found the lump in the middle of his chest and was later diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.
“When I saw the advert that said everyone should check for breast lumps I did just that,” says Allen, from Llangollen, Wales.
“I felt a small, hidden pea-sized lump in the middle of my chest, but my doctor said it was just a cyst. I didn’t think men got breast cancer, and certainly not in the middle of their chests, so I wasn’t too concerned.”
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Allen’s GP initially diagnosed the lump as a cyst, and it was only after he lost six stone three years later and the lump became more visible that he got it removed and it was sent for a biopsy.
This was when Allen learned that he had breast cancer. He then underwent a mastectomy to remove his left peck and had lymph nodes under his armpit removed.
As Allen’s cancer was caused by too much oestrogen, he now has to take Tamoxifen – an oestrogen blocker – for five more years which he says makes him feel like a “menopausal woman” as he suffers from night sweats.
Allen says that the diagnosis was “lonely” as he didn’t know of any men in the same position as him.
“Whilst my cancer ward was amazing, I never met any men going through breast cancer,” he adds. “There are quite a few support groups for women, and maybe men in general are less talkative about medical problems. It made me feel really lonely.
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“Maybe men might find it embarrassing to talk about breast cancer and put off this sort of thing. I think we need to get men talking about it, checking for signs and doing something about any worries they have.
"I get it, I didn’t know you could get breast cancer as a man either. If [as a man] you find a cyst on your chest, get it checked. It could be something else – you never know.”
According to Cancer Research, around 350 men are diagnosed with cancer in the UK each year, and only 1% of breast cancer cases in the UK are males.
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Symptoms of breast cancer in men include a painless lump in the breast, nipple discharge, nipple retraction, swelling of the breast, a lump or swelling under the arm, a rash on or around the nipple, and a sore in the skin of the breast.
The biggest risk factors for male breast cancer in the UK include getting older, high oestrogen levels, Klinefelter's syndrome (when a man is born with an extra female chromosome), radiation exposure, and family members with breast cancer.
Jim will walk the runway in The Show by Breast Cancer Now, a fashion show supporting people with breast cancer on 20 April. To register to watch The Show virtually and for further information on The Show by Breast Cancer Now please visit breastcancernow.org/theshowlondon.
Additional reporting by SWNS.
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