“Sir, you have cancer … breast cancer.” The doctor in the consultation room might not be so short and immediately, but with Frank Vermeeren from Oosterhout it came in so hard. Last year he received this diagnosis, which mainly receives women (18,000 a year). The disease is rare for men, but no less radical.
To give more fame to breast cancer among men, there was a special meeting on Saturday afternoon at the Cultural Center De Cammeleur in Dongen. About seventy men and women came together to share experiences and get information.
Robbert van Alphen, internist-oncologist at the ETZ in Tilburg, believes it is important that more attention is paid to this. “Breast cancer in men is rare, but about two hundred men get sick every year,” he says.
“Often they come to the doctor late, because they simply don’t think that it might be breast cancer.” It is known as a women’s disease. In the consultation room, Van Alphen notices that men react very surprised because they did not expect them to get this disease. “The sooner we are there, the better we can treat it. That also applies to men.”
“On all leaflets there are always women, I miss information for me as a man.”
For Frank Vermeeren, the diagnosis came as a blow last year. His wife saw something crazy on his chest and rang the bell. “The doctor assured me that I shouldn’t worry, he had never seen breast cancer with a man,” says Frank. Yet he had an investigation done just to be sure. “Unfortunately it was bingo, but not a nice one.”
Frank was operated on and irradiated. He still recovers from that. “I thought I was the old one again after the treatment, but I am still tired soon,” he says. He can only get used to that. “I find it especially difficult, because I have the feeling that I am a burden for my wife.” His wife, Carina, sits next to him and nods him encouragingly. He smiles: “Fortunately she helps me great.”
What is striking Frank is that almost all information about breast cancer is aimed at women. “All brochures and explanations are about the female body. As a man you don’t always know what applies to you. That’s why I came to this meeting: to find answers and learn more.”
In addition, the mental piece is also important, says the couple. “For women there is a lot of support, for example after breast surgery,” says Carina. “Now Frank is not ashamed of his scar at all and he is easy to talk about it. But he was much less considering dealing with his diagnosis or recovery process. That could be better,” she says.
“For now I can breathe relieved.”
In Dongen, Frank meets about seventy fellow sufferers. Or, as they prefer to say there: fellow sufferers. The information is the most important for Frank, but he likes to notice that he is not alone. “I especially want to know how I can fully become the old after this disease,” he says.
He seems to be well on his way to recovery, his last scans showed that he no longer has cancer. Yet it always remains exciting, says Frank. “The post -treatment process is also tough and you remain afraid that it will come back. I am now trying to aim the recovery of fatigue. For now I can breathe relieved.”