Troy Flint, a father of two who lives in Sacramento, California, was spending the day at a local pool last summer with his children Ophelia, 8, and Monty, 4, when his daughter pointed to his chest.
“She said, ‘Dad, why is one nipple sticking out and the other one kind of pushed in?'” Flint, 48, recalled. “I just kind of blew it off. I figured one nipple might be cold and I couldn’t see what he was talking about. We just kept messing around in the pool.”
Later that night, Flint, who works for an educational nonprofit, felt his chest and looked in the mirror. He saw that one of his nipples was indeed looking a little upside down. What he finds out a week later will completely shock Flint, his wife Lindsay and everyone around him. He really had male breast cancer.
This is his story, in his own words, told to PEOPLE.
I’m 48 years old, but I never thought I was at high risk for cancer – especially for male breast cancer. That was not on my radar at all. If someone had said liver cancer, I would have been fine, of course, I drank a lot when I was younger. But not breast cancer. It was a total shock.
After my daughter pointed out that one of my nipples looked like it was pushed in, I absentmindedly rubbed my hand over my chest and it felt like one of my nipples was a little swollen. I went to the bathroom and now I turn on the light, explore and grope some more. I mean, uh, this is not good.
Google says that a twisted nipple is one of the main signs of breast cancer. It has also been said that men who get it tend to be overweight. Not only am I slim, but I just had a check-up and was given a clean bill of health — the doctor even told me I’m in great shape for my age. But I was worried anyway.
When I went back to my doctor to check on him, I could see concern in his eyes. He scheduled a mammogram and an ultrasound.
The mammogram showed that something looked suspicious, so they ordered a biopsy. But I felt that I could already tell that something was malignant. I had a great relationship with the nurse, and as I was getting dressed, I saw a sad look in her eyes. Maybe I made it up. But a week later, they confirmed it was cancer and had spread to my lymph nodes.
I am now a patient at UC Davis Medical Center, where I am involved in a clinical immunotherapy trial. I think part of the reason I was accepted into this trial is that I’m kind of an anomaly. Usually when a man gets breast cancer, there is some obvious trigger, like a strong family history of cancer or obesity or liver failure from chronic alcoholism, or some kind of environmental or lifestyle or genetic factor. But I didn’t hit any of those red flags.
There is really very little research on male breast cancer because it is so rare — accounting for only 1% of breast cancer cases. And most treatments for breast cancer in men are extrapolated from standard treatments for women. Not really tailored or tailored for men.
Monty, Troy, Ophelia and Lindsay Flint at home in Sacramento.
Lindsay Flint
Ironman triathlete shares his male breast cancer diagnosis: ‘This is the 1% club no one wants to join’
In this trial, instead of going straight to chemotherapy and then surgery, or having surgery first and then chemotherapy, they start with immunotherapy. Every three weeks I get an intravenous injection that boosts my immune system, and then they inject something into the tumor that signals my immune system to attack that area. Then I do an MRI and blood work and consult with either my oncologist or one of the nurses working on the test. And so far it’s encouraging.
The next step is for me to go into surgery and then they will come up with a chemotherapy plan. I haven’t had too many horrible days so far. I don’t have any serious side effects from the cancer, other than being able to feel the tumor. It has been growing since the first diagnosis. And there’s some irritation and occasionally I’ll get a little, I guess you’d call it shock, which I get every now and then.
But I still practice. I’m going for a run. I do Peloton, pick up my kids, go to work. So I’m in that weird liminal space where I have a serious diagnosis on the one hand, but on the other hand I’m just acting like almost nothing is happening.
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Sometimes I try to figure out if I did this to myself. I definitely had a party phase and it’s not like I was just eating sweet potatoes and kale. I think a lot of people try to blame themselves, just to understand why this is happening. But then I met people who have even more serious types of cancer: pancreatic cancer, organ cancer or brain cancer. So while I can’t downplay how serious breast cancer is, it could be worse.
My biggest fear was precisely the fact that I have relatively small children, only 8 and 4 years old. The possibility of not being there for them to support them, to see them grow, even just to support my family financially — you never want your kids to struggle. To fail them, to fail their life, that was the greatest pain I felt during this ordeal.
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Troy Flint, his wife Lindsay and their children Ophelia, 8, and Monty, 4.
Caroline Winata of Milou and Olin Photography
I know there are support groups so men can talk about their feelings, especially if they feel the environment they are caring in is too feminized. I personally don’t feel it. I don’t care if I have to wear a pink robe. But I know that when you go to a lot of places where you get treatment, all of them, or the vast majority of people, are women. And that could be alienating for some men.
One thing I’ve learned about male breast cancer, aside from a sunken nipple being a sign, is that if you have large breasts in general by male standards, that’s something to be evaluated. Breast cancer in men is too rare for mammograms or ultrasounds to be practical as a preventative method, but I would definitely encourage men to do self-exams, especially if cancer runs in your family.
‘I just came out as someone living with cancer’
My family was amazing. My wife Lindsay was a rock. She owns a small business that has her own skin care line, Lilac & Flint, and she’s the one who came up with the GoFundMe idea, which I totally resisted because you don’t want to ask people for things.
As a man, you feel that your first duty is to provide for or support your family. And my main concern was that it would not become a burden on my family or undermine their future in any way. So if that is my first priority, then of course you have to swallow your pride and make decisions that will help you stay true to that value. And so I realized that Lindsay was right to suggest crowdfunding, even if it was humble. There was an overwhelming response from friends and family.
Lindsay also helped on the culinary side, making smoothies and helping me stay on a good diet, trying to avoid processed foods, added sugars. Obviously I don’t drink, so all the things you’re supposed to do, but it helps a lot if you have a role-playing partner.
The children are fine and are not really aware of what is happening. I’m just very careful not to traumatize them. My great hope is that I will recover quickly when I have the surgery, probably in late spring or early summer, and that they won’t see me in this compromised position and worry. And to be honest, there’s vanity involved — you don’t want your kids to see you in a weakened state and destroy the illusion they had when they were young about their dad, that he was a strong and invincible hero.
I hope for the best and hope my story gets some awareness out there. The chances of men getting this are slim – but if you catch some, you’ll be glad you did.
Visit GoFundMe to donate to the Flint family.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education