st. john's lodge no 2 - The Trestleboard

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

According to the American Cancer Society, the lifetime risk of men getting breast cancer is about 1 in 833.

Although breast cancer is much more common in women, breast cancer affects men, too. In 2021, October 17 to October 23, was dedicated as Men's Breast Cancer Awareness Week. About 2,710 American men this year are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer, and about 530 are expected to die from the disease. But lack of awareness and stigma can be barriers to detection and care.

Otis White worked in communications while serving in the U.S. Army and National Guard and found himself all over the world. But he never thought he would find himself inside the mammography suite at the Dallas VA Medical Center.

"One day I felt something like a knot, it was really hard, it wasn’t sore or anything but thought it wasn’t supposed to be there," said White. "I had a doctor's appointment in three weeks, so I thought I would just ask about it then, but then I thought no, I better just go on in as this just wasn't right."

White saw his doctor and he was sent for a mammogram and then a subsequent biopsy.

"They went in and took some of the tissue out, and about five or six days later I got the call saying it was cancer," said White. "I just thought this is crazy, I'm a man, how do I have breast cancer?"

Before White was diagnosed, he never heard of a man having breast cancer.

"Gradually, I started seeing other men having breast cancer and it eased my thoughts because I wasn't the only one," said White. "My advice to other men going through this is to be strong and let them know there's nothing to be ashamed of."

The Breast Cancer Awareness Month event began in 1985 as a week long awareness campaign by the American Cancer Society, in partnership with Imperial Chemical Industries. It eventually extended to a month long event. In 1992, the pink ribbon came into play.

The original use of ribbons for specific causes dates back to 1979, when "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" inspired Penney Laingen ‐ whose husband was a prisoner of war ‐ to display yellow ribbons as a symbol of hope.