Male Breast Cancer Survivor Spreads Awareness: 'Men Have Breasts, Too!'

Sam Rivera, a 47-year male breast cancer survivor, sat down with CURE at the 36^th Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference to discuss the importance of communicating family health history, to advise men to be proactive about their health and to share his positive experience with the Male Breast Cancer Coalition.

Rivera received a diagnosis of male breast cancer in September 1971 at the age of 18. After basic training in the military, Rivera’s doctor noticed a bloody discharge from his left nipple during a routine examination. Rivera explained how he was shocked, in denial and embarrassed to find out he had a “women’s disease.”

“I should have known better, because my aunt passed away of breast cancer a few months earlier, so the disease was in my family.” Several members of Rivera’s family have also had breast cancer, including his grandfather who lived to the age of 110, an aunt and a niece. “I now know that this disease doesn’t discriminate.”

Rivera urged other men with breast cancer to not be ashamed to talk about their disease, to help other men to identify with their disease, seek support and be proactive about their health.