I admit to being critical of breast cancer awareness campaigns, partly because they don?t acknowledge that men can get it too. Instead, they focus on women?s breasts, with silly slogans such as ?Save the Ta-Tas? and ?I Heart Boobies;? slogans that objectify women and provide hormonal teenage boys the opportunity to wear such buttons and put up bumper stickers without being reprimanded. But hey, it?s marketable, right?
But not until I read the news story on MSNBC about Raymond Johnson did I discover just how dangerous these campaigns can actually be.
Raymond Johnson is a 26-year-old South Carolina man with Stage 2 breast cancer. That was the first unpleasant surprise: he?s claimed he didn?t know men could get it before he was diagnosed. Since his job did not provide health coverage, and he couldn?t afford health insurance, he applied to The Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act. This federal assistance program, which was established 11 years ago, provides Medicaid funds for cancer patients who don?t qualify for Medicaid insurance.
Then came the other unpleasant surprise: Johnson doesn?t qualify because he?s a man.
He meets all the other requirements and criteria, no problem. But the widespread misconception that only women get breast cancer has taken its toll and denied him the basic right to health care. And this certainly isn?t the first time this assistance program has turned away men. According to their records, two other men in the past four years have applied and been denied.
Johnson is currently undergoing chemotherapy. As if worrying about one?s cancer wasn?t enough, now he has to worry about paying his medical bills, which will undoubtedly go through the roof.
The reality is that an estimated 2,100 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Symptoms include a painless lump or thickening in the breast tissue, redness, puckering or peeling skin in the chest area, and discharge from one?s nipple.
Treatments include the usual chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. But there?s also hormonal therapy, which is done to keep cancer from spreading or coming back in the future, it is often more effective for men than for women. Biological therapy is a new approach, which is used for men who have an excess of a protein that makes cancer spread quickly. This treatment works by stopping the protein from making cancer cells grow.
If the people behind breast cancer awareness campaigns want to make a difference, they would stop making it one big sex joke and start getting serious about it. As Raymond Johnson?s story proves, the public?s lack of education on male breast cancer can have serious repercussions.
Disclaimer: the views of the author are not those of ViewsHound or Publisha Limited.
Copyright ? S?rah Nour, all rights reserved.
Source: http://www.viewshound.com/health-fitness/2011/8/male-breast-cancer-no-its-not-a-myth
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