It was a normal day for Mike Weatherly– that was until he noticed that an abnormally long hair on his chest needed trimming. It was on the areola that surrounds the nipple, and when he began to trim, he noticed a dark spot the size of a pencil eraser.
But, like most men, the Parkland resident procrastinated, thinking it was a pimple that would go away in time. But after a few weeks, it remained and that’s when he sought the counsel of a neighbor who happened to be an emergency room doctor.
“He didn’t like what he saw and told me I should get it biopsied,” said Weatherly.
“In October, the results came back as a positive grade 3 tumor and I was told I had breast cancer.”
If 100 breast cancers are diagnosed, only one will be found in a man. This year, however, it’s estimated that approximately 2,600 new cases will be diagnosed.
The 71-year-old former pilot for American Airlines, who has always been physically fit, had suddenly become a statistic. Yet, he never asked why me? “As humans, there’s a certain amount of vulnerability and things are going to happen,” he said.
“I also have rheumatoid arthritis, which is rare among men, so I’ve learned how to cope and never allowed myself to become depressed.”
When a tumor is sent to a lab for analysis, its grade is based on aggressiveness and invasiveness. Weatherly’s came back as grade 3, but luckily his cancer was localized and did not spread to surrounding lymph nodes.
If cancer cells had spread to the lymph node, they could have already traveled to the lymph system and spread to other parts of the body.
Weatherly’s cancerous tissue—and his nipple—were removed by a general surgeon on an outpatient basis, and now his ongoing care is in the hands of an oncologist.
“My treatment plan began in December and for the foreseeable future I’ll be seeing the specialist every six months,” he said. “I’ve been told it was a hormone- responsive tumor so in all likelihood I won’t require chemotherapy.”
Weatherly, a self-described “health nut” has been retired for 12 years. He was a track athlete at Southwest Missouri State College, and even into his late 30s participated in triathlons.
He continues to eat nutritional foods, works out on a stationary bike, and lifts weights at home. “Running track pushes a person to the limits, both physically and mentally,” he said. “I guess that’s where I learned the discipline about keeping the going into surgery, the better shape you’ll be in coming out and the quicker you’ll recover.”
Most male breast cancers are discovered in men over 50, where there is a history of breast cancer in the family, and the BRAC1 and BRAC2 (breast cancer susceptibility genes) are present.
Plus, if a man has had previous chest radiation therapy, he could be prone. Estrogen, which is used to treat prostate cancer, also increases the chances of male breast cancer. Injured testicles, liver disease, and obesity are also contributing to underlying factors.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the most common types of breast cancer in men is invasive ductal carcinoma. This is where cells grow outside the ducts into other parts of the breast tissue with the possibility of spreading to other parts of the body.
Men who inherit abnormal mutated genes are in a high-risk category, as the mutation may lead to either breast cancer or prostate cancer.
In Weatherly’s case, there was no family history of breast cancer or cancer in general. “I have to admit it was a shock and I never thought something like this would happen to me,” he said. “Thank goodness it was caught early enough.”
Since his cancerous tissue was removed, he’s undergone precautionary follow-ups, including a CT scan and PET scan.
“Most men are not diagnosed until it’s too late, so I was very lucky,” he said. “Just think, if that long hair hadn’t needed trimming, I may be telling you a much different story.”
As a fighter pilot on aircraft carriers in the Navy during the Vietnam era,
Weatherly learned how to deal with all kinds of situations, and his advice to men is to always be aware of any changes in their bodies.
“We tend to focus on heart attacks, strokes or whatever, and male breast cancer is an afterthought,” he said. “It’s only an afterthought until it happens to you.”
