“If it was remotely possible, that means it was possible”; Lee County man learns he has breast cancer

Although it is very uncommon, men get breast cancer, too. The disease affects about 1% of men compared to one in eight women who are diagnosed.

It was purely by chance that Robert Arnholt found a lump in his chest. He was in the shower when his hand came across something unusual in his left breast.

“When I got into that area, felt something there, and it wasn’t supposed to be there,” Arnholt said.

He went to his doctor who ordered a mammogram. It’s the same diagnostic test women go through to screen for breast cancer. Arnholt told WINK News health and medical reporter Amy Oshier that he’d heard of male breast cancer, but never thought it would impact him.

There’s no formal standard for screening for male breast cancer Liz Bachoo-Garib, breast cancer navigator, Lee Health

“It just was remotely possible. And if it was remotely possible, that means it was possible,” he said.

Over the past year, Arnholt was treated at the Lee Health Cancer Institute, getting a triad of treatments. A mastectomy followed by radiation and chemo for his stage one breast cancer. It is so rare, that most men don’t find it that early.

“They’re not checking their breasts,” said Liz Bachoo-Garib. “There’s no formal standard for screening for male breast cancer. So usually, it’s lumps or breast pain.”

Bachoo-Garib is a breast cancer navigator with Lee Health and part of Arnholt’s care team. She said they see a male breast cancer patient maybe once a year. “That’s kind of the last thing in their mind that they are thinking about.”

Because it is unusual to find this cancer in men, it prompts them to add layers of support.

“Having a male breast cancer diagnosis is not something you want to shout from the rooftops, whereas women can discuss [it with] each other,” Bachoo-Garib said.

The cancer itself is not gender specific. There could be a genetic component, but Arnholt did not have the BRCA gene. Age and family history are other risk factors. It appears his case was spontaneous, putting him among the 1% of men battling this disease.

Arnholt credits the personal care he received with getting him through a tough diagnosis.

“A lot of the emotions that other people have described to me as having them, having them, were put to rest by these people here.”

Like anyone going through cancer, it helps to have a team on their side.