Breast cancer in men

Retired homicide detective Hugh Eason has seen and heard a lot of scary stuff in his life, but he never thought he would hear a doctor tell him he had breast cancer.

“I remember the doctor leaning against the wall and telling me I had full-blown breast cancer,” recalled Eason.  “I couldn’t even process what he was saying. I started shaking and trembling. I was in shock, especially since you only hear about women getting it.”

An avid golfer with two holes-in-one at his Fernandina Beach golf club, Eason assumed the quarter-sized nodule he found on his chest was from playing so much of his favorite sport.

“My chest was sore and I could feel a little knot,” said Eason, a Fernandina Beach resident. “It was starting to affect my swing.”

Steve Felger, MD, a general surgeon at Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center, assured Eason that the knot was most likely benign, but performed a biopsy just to be certain.

The surprising results led Eason to have surgery to remove his left breast, followed by chemotherapy and radiation because the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes. “It was hard to lose a breast. I can’t imagine how hard this is for a woman,” added Eason, a career police officer who recently retired after more than 20 years.

Less than one percent of all breast cancer cases develop in men, and only one in a thousand men will ever be diagnosed with breast cancer, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Families with a strong history of breast cancer often carry gene mutations.

Although nobody in his family has had breast cancer, Eason had the BRCA1 genetic test, which showed he does have the gene that causes cells to mutate and leads to cancer. He urged his children, both police officers, to have the test. His son Allen doesn’t have the gene; however, his daughter Jaime does.

Since the genetic test results came in, Jaime has had a double mastectomy to lessen her chances of developing breast cancer in the future.

In May 2016, nine years after his breast cancer diagnosis, Eason started having trouble breathing. He was shocked to learn the breast cancer had metastasized to his lung and lymph nodes. His hematologist/oncologist put him on oral chemotherapy immediately.

Although the aggressive regimen left him feeling drained and nauseous, Eason finally got the news he was praying for: A recent PET scan showed he is cancer-free once again.

“I was so relieved, I actually hugged the doctor,” said Eason, who is back on the golf course and competing in tournaments again.