Breast cancer survivor Peter tells men ‘It’s good to talk’
PETER Vickers lifts up his shirt to show off his scar. About four inches long, it runs diagonally across where his right nipple used to be.
It’s a very visual, and still painful, reminder that the 59-year-old builder is recovering from breast cancer.
Many people believe that the terrifying disease affects only women. But men can get it too. The chances of being diagnosed with it are much rarer than with females, but about 350 to 400 cases still occur in the UK each year.
Peter, a grandfather-ofthree, doesn’t find it easy to talk about what he’s going through, but he agreed to do so because he believes it’s vitally important more m e n discuss their health – and are aware that they too can get breast cancer.
He first noticed something was wrong while on holiday in Cape Town with his wife Pat in December 2016. For a few weeks beforehand he’d felt a pain ‘like a bad bruise’ in his chest, but just assumed he’d knocked himself at work.
When he noticed a discharge coming from his right nipple, he decided to get it checked out.
He went to hospital in Cape Town, where medics advised him to see a doctor as soon as he got home.
Several scans and a biopsy followed before Peter, a joiner by trade who ran his own building firm, was given the news everyone dreads.
“I was stunned,” said Peter.
“You think it’s going to be the end. I knew men could get breast cancer, but I was expecting it to be nothing.”
But Peter was one of the lucky ones. His cancer was discovered early.
Because men are often diagnosed much later than women, as they don’t check themselves for symptoms as often, the fatality rate is much higher, with about 80 men dying from breast cancer every year.
Within a few weeks, Peter underwent a mastectomy at Wythenshawe Hospital, an operation he compared to being ‘hit by a bus.’
The four-hour procedure, which included a gruelling radioactive injection, got rid of the cancerous cells, but took a heavy toll.
“I’ve had a rough time since the operation,” an emotional Peter says.
“I was fit and healthy, but it really knocked it out of me. I tried to go back to work but joinery is a heavy job and I just couldn’t do it. I tried to go to the gym with my son to build up my fitness but I couldn’t do it.
“People in the know told me my strength would come back bit by bit, but it’s been 15 months now.”
The causes of breast cancer are unclear but a number of factors can increase the likelihood of developing it. These include obesity – where someone’s BMI is over 30 – or a family history of breast cancer in either males or females.
Age also plays a part, with the majority of male sufferers being over 60.
But in Peter’s case it is unknown what caused it.
He has no family history of breast cancer and tests carried out at the University of Salford found he doesn’t carry the gene most commonly associated with it.
But despite their struggles, Peter and Pat, who celebrate their ruby wedding anniversary in September, are looking to the future with optimism.
Peter is due back in hospital for another procedure next month and in the meantime he is trying to encourage more men to talk about breast cancer and check themselves for the signs of it.
“Women talk about breast cancer all the time, but until I got it I’d never heard a man talk about it,” said Peter.
“But now lots of people are asking me about it.”
Pat, 59, added: “Men are shy at coming forward.
“They don’t want to talk about it, but they need to and they need to be more aware of it. It’s very difficult to watch someone you love going through it. It’s been awful. Even now, a year and a half on, it’s still very sore, but we talk about it a lot, because the more you talk, the better.”
Throughout his ordeal Peter has been helped by the charity Breast Cancer care. And in October he is set to return the favour when he takes part in the annual Breast Cancer care fashion show.
Peter, who’s already been to Savile Row to get measured for the eight bespoke outfits he will be modelling, will be one of just two men who take to the catwalk at London’s Park Plaza hotel for the star-studded fundraiser.
For more information about breast cancer, and how to checks for the signs, visit breastcancercare.org. uk.