Beyoncé Knowles’ father Matthew Knowles reveals that he suffers from breast cancer
Photo by Christopher Boswell
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but not much attention had been given to men affected by breast cancer until Beyoncé’s father, Matthew Knowles, revealed on “Good Morning America” with Michael Strahan he’d been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Knowles developed a gene mutation, BRCA2, that places him in a high category for developing cancer.
“The rest of my life I have to be very much aware and conscious and do all of the early detection,” Knowles said during the interview.
After finding multiple traces of blood in his shirts and bedsheets, he immediately got tested and found other factors that put him at risk.
“Of all the things I could get, why would I get this?” Knowles questioned.
Knowles encouraged other men to get tested as well. Even though men carry less of a risk factor than women, they should still get tested as often as women do. Before someone gets tested they should be familiar with what breast cancer is?
According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer starts when cells in the breast grow out of control. Men, after puberty, have low levels of female hormones, but men’s breast tissues still have ducts in only in a few lobules. Breast cancer, however, starts in different parts of the breasts.
Breast cancer begins in the ducts of the nipple that carry milk, and some start in the glands that make breast milk. Men also carry these kinds of ducts and glands, though that’s not the normal function. The symptoms vary like in Knowles’ case.
The most common sign, according to the National Cancer Institute, is a painless lump or thickening of the breast or chest area. Any change to the nipple area can be a warning sign of breast cancer.
Tswana Sewell, executive director of the American Cancer Society for the Greater D.C.-Baltimore region commented on the external factors of contracting breast cancer.
“For men of any race, their breast cancer risk is increased if other blood relatives in the family – either men or women – have had breast cancer. About 1 in 5 men with breast cancer have a close relative with the disease,” Sewell said.
“I'm hoping by me coming here today, speaking out, letting folks know that you can survive this, but it has to be early detection,”Knowles said.
According to the SEER Cancer Statistics Review, the median age for men affected by breast cancer is 67. Knowles urged men, however, to try and get it detected as early as possible.
Survival is at its highest in any case when breast cancer is detected early and treated. We should also note that men carry a higher mortality rate due to the lack of awareness and lack of treatment, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Based on the American Cancer Society’s research in 2019, there will be 2,670 new cases of breast cancer in men. As well, approximately 500 men will die from breast cancer.
American Cancer Society reported that breast cancer is about 70 times less common amongst Black men than Black women. For men, the lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is about 1 in 833. Cancer disparities amongst the Black community are at an all time high, and there isn’t enough information supporting cases of breast cancer and men, specifically Black men.