October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Women gather across the country in  solidarity to show support for those living with the disease, and those who did not  survive their diagnosis.  But what about the men affected by breast cancer; not the  husbands, brothers and sons, but those who are living with cancer themselves? Yes,  breast cancer is considered a women’s disease, but over 2,100 men will be diagnosed in  the U.S. by the end of 2011.Because Since breast cancer carries a stigma, most men do not discover that they have  cancer until it is fatally too late. Of the 2,100 men that will be diagnosed, 450 men will  die.  Breast Cancer forms in the same way it forms in women, usually with a small cyst  or lump found in breast tissue, in the pectoral muscle, nipple or underarm; and similar to women, if the lump is reported early enough the cancer can be eradicated through mastectomy and or radiation. But men are not noticing. Should men be encouraged to have regular screenings and mammograms like women?  Should breast cancer Awareness month give men a larger platform to communicate to other men, and become a gender-free issue?Men who are living with Breast Cancer or who have lived through it should be made to feel safe enough to share their experiences and diminish the stigma. Men have breasts too and they should begin to embrace them as breasts, not just “pecks,” or “chests”. We ALL should.

To learn more about male Breast Cancer visit the American Cancer Society: www.cancer.org.

Peace, Love, R’ebellion

Ishshah