The odds are slim — only one in 755 men will be diagnosed with this type of cancer in their lifetime.
But X-Men star Tyler Mane is now among them.
“Yep. I have breast cancer,” the 59-year-old Saskatoon-born actor wrote in the caption of a video posted to Instagram June 8. “And yep, it’s super rare. Only 1% of breast cancers are men.”
Mane, best known for his role as Sabretooth in 2000’s original X-Men and Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s Halloween, said that when he first found the hard lump on his chest last fall, he dismissed it.
“I thought it would go away … I was like, ‘it’s going down,'” he told CBC News on Thursday. But it didn’t.
Mane said at his wife’s behest, he finally got it checked out — and the diagnosis came back in early April as a rapidly growing form of breast cancer.
‘Everybody has breast tissue’
“I thought, ‘it can’t be true, you must’ve mixed up the reports,'” said Mane.
He said on Instagram that his first reaction was to keep his diagnosis a secret.
“I mean it’s kind of embarrassing,” he wrote. “But then I found out that men are more likely to be diagnosed in advance stages BECAUSE it’s not talked about and not looked for.”
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, breast cancer in men is incredibly rare and accounts for less than one per cent of all breast cancer diagnoses in Canada. The organization says that breast cancer behaves similarly in men as it does in women, with most diagnoses in men being “ductal carcinoma, which start in the cells lining the ducts.”
Conversations around breast cancer need to move beyond the perception that it is exclusively a women’s disease, said Dr. Mojola Omole, a breast surgical oncologist with the Scarborough Health Network.
“Everybody has breast tissue,” said Omole. “We all are at risk of getting breast cancer.”
Mane said men, himself included, often dismiss the warning signs and prolong getting checked as an “ego thing.”
“We all want to be the tough guy,” he said. “‘Oh, I’m not hurt, suck it up, nothing is the matter with me’ … but you have to realize you have to get yourself checked because going undiagnosed with something like this — it will tear you down.”
What are the warning signs for breast cancer?
Checking for warning signs can be as simple as checking your breast tissue, Omole said.
“If you’re in the shower, once a month, just feel around to make sure that everything feels normal … and if you notice anything that feels abnormal — it could just be excess fat, doesn’t matter — go to your doctor.”
Mane, who began chemotherapy this past week, also shared a clip of himself in a hospital bed, mouthing “f–k cancer,” while sticking up his middle finger.
“Because it’s rarely talked about, it’s usually found at later stages and has worse outcomes,” said Mane in his June 8 video.
Delayed diagnoses tend to happen because men don’t get breast cancer screening, Omole said, which can mean that by time they can feel a lump “it’s been growing for quite a bit of time.”
Mane said he wants to change that, encouraging his followers to follow and share his journey with the hopes of dismantling the stigma and inspiring other men to speak out and get checked.
“If caught early, it’s VERY treatable,” he wrote. “Like, Save, Share, Comment let’s spread the word!”
In another update posted to his Instagram on June 9, the Deadpool and Wolverine star expressed thanks and heartfelt appreciation.
“The outreach and the love has been fantastic,” he told CBC News. “And it’s ranging from people saying, ‘Oh I never thought men could get breast cancer’ to ‘Oh, my grandfather had that.'”
As for his own prognosis, Mane said he’s feeling confident they’ve caught his cancer early enough. He said he plans to launch a podcast to spread awareness and inspire men to be proactive with their health.
“As we get older, we get wake-up calls,” said Mane. “Make sure you answer your wake-up calls, because if you don’t … you may not get a chance to pick up that phone again.”
Mane broke into the entertainment world as a professional wrestler before trading the ring for acting. After rising to fame as Sabretooth, the Canadian actor stayed on the villainous beat. He also starred as Ajax the Great in the 2004 epic Troy.
