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Sams Valley rancher warns that men can get breast cancer too Breast cancer survivor Sherm Simmons is spreading the word to other men that they too can contract the disease. Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta Wednesday Oct 12, 2016 at 2:00 AM Oct 12, 2016 at 9:24 AM By Tammy Asnicar for the Mail Tribune Sherm Simmons’ favorite cap reads: “Never Give an Inch” — apropos for a man who didn’t let breast cancer have a foothold in his life. When he learned in July that he had breast cancer, Simmons says he was surprised, but didn’t let the diagnosis “get to me.” “When I first found out, I didn’t make a big deal about it,” he says. “I didn’t worry about it. You can’t take away from this day.” Today, less than two months after his surgery in mid-August, Simmons has resumed normal activities, which include tending to the livestock at his Sams Valley ranch and completing a list of construction projects on the property. Simmons believes his positive attitude, optimistic outlook and generally good health were key in “beating this thing” without chemotherapy or radiation treatments. Early detection may have saved his life. Or, at the very least, preserved his quality of life. Breast cancer in men is rare. According to statistics cited by Breastcancer.org, Simmons is one of about 2,600 men expected to be diagnosed with the disease this year. For men, the lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000 — compared to 1 in 8 for women. In the past decade, Kate Newgard, oncology nurse navigator at the Leila J. Eisenstein Breast Center at Providence Medford Medical Center, has treated just three males. Male breast cancer affects “less than 1 to 2 percent of the (male) population,” she says. “It’s an anomaly, but it definitely happens.” The biggest danger for men is the myth that only women get breast cancer. When a man receives the diagnosis, Newgard says, “he is blown away.” She adds that “men are not super aware” that they, too, can get the disease. And as it is for women, a cancer undetected and untreated may be fatal. More than 400 men in the United States are expected to die from breast cancer this year. Because his story appears to have had a happy ending, Simmons says he feels obligated to share it. And with 40 years as an educator under his belt, the 68-year-old is determined to instruct other men to pay attention. Newgard and Michelle Lagorio, a breast health and oncology nurse navigator at Asante’s Three Rivers Medical Center, both stress that it’s important that men heed the signs and symptoms, including dimpled or puckered skin, a red scaly nipple, or fluid discharge at the nipple. Lagorio, who has seen two cases already this year, encourages men “to periodically check their chest wall for thickening breast tissue or painless lumps in the breasts or armpits.” Newgard and Lagorio both say that too often embarrassment about a change in his breast or chest area causes a man to delay consulting a doctor. And it is typically the woman in his life who first seeks advice. One of Lagorio’s patients waited two years after the first signs and symptoms to seek treatment, and now in addition to surgery he faces chemotherapy and quite possibly radiation. Frequently, as in Simmons’ case, a lump is found quite by accident. In any case, as with women, survival is highest when breast cancer is found in the early stages. Simmons says he first heard about male breast cancer a decade or so ago at a teachers' conference in Wenatchee, Washington. A workshop on cancer awareness and prevention featured a male speaker sharing his personal journey with breast cancer. Simmons admits to being bored and only half paying attention to the man’s presentation. He recalls thinking, “This does not involve me.” “How could talk of cancer, especially breast cancer, apply to me?” Fast forward to July 2016, when during an ultrasound for a gastrointestinal issue, Simmons’ family nurse practitioner discovered “a spot on my chest.” His first thought was lung cancer. And, yet, he still did not think of himself as a candidate for cancer of any sort. “I don’t smoke. I don’t drink,” he says. "I have been active and athletic all my life. I hike mountains; I float rivers." The “spot” turned out to be a lump on his right breast. A mammogram, MRI and biopsy confirmed the nurse practitioner’s fears of breast cancer. “Lois (Hauch, his nurse practitioner) started the ball rolling,” he says. “If I hadn’t had that ultrasound, that lump could have been trouble.” A man who meets life head-on, Simmons was thankful for a medical team that “wanted to move fast.” Charts, graphs and reams of research persuaded him to “make a sound choice,” he says. “We moved forward and got on it immediately.” The plan of attack for Simmons included surgery. The most common surgery in men is called a modified radical mastectomy, which means that the nipple, areola (dark, round area around the nipple), and all of the breast tissue are removed. The muscles on the chest are left alone. Lymph nodes are also removed. A lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery) is not usually done, because men's breasts are so small. By the time the tumor and the tissue around it have been removed, very little breast tissue is left. A mastectomy requires general anesthesia and usually a night or longer in the hospital. Patients typically feel pain after the surgery that usually gets better in a few weeks. Simmons says he never had pain, so he didn't need any pain pills. He also didn’t let the post-operative drip bags slow him down. “The day I came home from the hospital, I was wandering around my ranch,” he says. “Four days later, I was up at Medco Pond (in the Butte Falls area) filming a wedding, and two weeks later I hiked the Table Rocks. “We got it early enough,” says Simmons. “So, I’m doing pretty darn well.” — Reach Grants Pass freelance writer Tammy Asnicar at [email protected].