Rough and Tough Mike Singer Never Thought it Would Happen to Him.

Male breasts differ from female breasts in their anatomy, but are susceptible to the same cancerous malignancies that can be found in female breast cancer. Like many, male breast cancer patients are diagnosed after they discover a tumor near or on the nipple, at which point doctors must begin to move fast to prevent the cancer from spreading throughout the body. Like all cancers, the risk of metastasis is present, putting life at risk as the cancer progresses.

For one man, Mike Singer, breast cancer wasn’t even on his radar until the day that he was diagnosed with it. At age 50, right around Christmas time, he and his wife received the diagnosis. Luckily, the cancer had not spread, and Singer was able to defeat the cancer before any significant damage could be done to the rest of the body. He went on to tell his story as much as he could, and surrounded himself with a community of male breast cancer survivors, who all currently fight to spread awareness to those who may not even know that they are at risk.

Mike’s diagnosis process

When New York resident Mike Singer discovered a lump under his left nipple in December of 2010, he did not think much of it. Several years earlier, he had gone in to see his general practitioner for a similar lump, which turned out to be a fatty cyst. It was easily removed, and Singer suffered no complications. Though the lump caused him discomfort, he waited until his annual fitness evaluation to have it checked out.

During the exam, Singer’s general practitioner referred him to a local surgeon to take a needle biopsy, in which the surgeon would attain a sample of the mass. Though the doctor wasn’t sure what to expect, but the lump was enough to send up a red flag. Though Singer experienced anxiety around needles, he set the appointment and had his wife, Patty, come to support him. The procedure did not go well, and so the surgeon scheduled Singer the next day for a surgical biopsy at Westchester Square Hospital in Brooklyn, NY.

Startling biopsy results

The results of the biopsy came on December 16th, just days after Singer was examined. Singer and his wife were informed that the surgeon had removed a 2.2cm mass from underneath Singer’s left nipple, and that it tested positive for breast cancer. He was given an official diagnosis of Ductal Carcinoma and Ductal Carcinoma in Situ. He could not understand what the doctor was saying, the news was so overwhelming, and he finally came to terms with the diagnosis when his wife looked at him in tears and said, “he’s telling you that you have Stage Two breast cancer.”

Read on to learn more about Mike Singer and how he fought his breast cancer.