Let’s listen to it for the boys.
What started as an innocent prank between friends ended as a potentially life-saving discovery for a man.
Now the recipient of the practical joke is issuing an important warning to other men about an often overlooked, but deadly, disease.
On a trip to Las Vegas five years ago, Robert Pfleghardt and his friends were “stupid boys” and engaged in age-old heckling when one of them twisted his nipple.
The “purple nurple” took a surprising turn when Pfleghardt experienced sharp pain that lasted well beyond the trip, prompting him to see his doctor, who discovered a bump the size of an eraser.
Through a mammogram, the lump was found to be breast cancer that had spread to the lymph nodes, a diagnosis that shocked the 62-year-old, telling SWNS: “Guys don’t have breast cancer. »
Even doctors initially thought Pfleghardt was a woman when he showed up for his mammogram, an experience he called highly unusual.
“They called Ms. Pfleghardt instead of Mr. Pfleghardt,” the retired Virginia local said. “They said ‘a man passing’ because there were a lot of women, and some of them were having scans without tops.”
Rates of men being diagnosed with breast cancer are low compared to women, with approximately 1 in 100,000 men suffering from this potentially fatal disease.
Several risk factors can increase risk, including older age, genetic mutations, family history, previous radiation or hormone therapy treatments, obesity, and certain conditions affecting the testicles that are also associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.
However, they face an approximately 19% higher mortality rate, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
This could be because men are less likely to assume that a lump in the chest is cancer, delaying the search for diagnosis and treatment.
While Pfleghardt’s doctors initially recommended a double mastectomy — a procedure to remove both breasts — his nerves led him to have a lumpectomy in January 2022.
Even though the lumpectomy “had very clear lines – it was just a mass – not like a spider web,” doctors still advised a month of radiation therapy.
Afterward, she was prescribed tamoxifen, a medication used to prevent breast cancer that can cause menopause-like side effects, including hot flashes, night sweats and uncomfortable dryness.
While Pfleghardt recently underwent a full-body exam to determine the status of his cancer, he credits the painful prank with helping him detect this heartbreaking health issue early.
He also warned others that “many more men have breast cancer than they think and it is spreading without them realizing it.”
“My friends and I still laugh about how we found out I had cancer,” he added. “My friend who pinched me saved my life. Otherwise I wouldn’t have found the lump and it would have spread. Boy trips save lives.”
Gn Health
