Lynn: David I think I'm right in saying you found your lump on your birthday, right?
David: That's correct, yes. I was on holiday in Florida with my family. I was in the shower
and as I was washing myself, I found a lump.
I knew that men get breast cancer but I just knew it was something I had to get checked
as soon as I got home, so that was what I did. I went straight to my GP and she arranged
for me to have a test with a breast cancer surgeon.
He then had some tests done, I was diagnosed a week later.
Lynn: Were you shocked?
David: I was shocked, and I defy anybody not to be shocked if they're told they've got
a cancer. But to be a man told you've got breast cancer it is particularly disturbing.
Lynn: From point of diagnosis to treatment beginning, was that long?
David: No, I was very lucky. I was diagnosed in the middle of October and I had my surgery
two weeks later, and then there was recovery period, and once the recovery period was over
I went into the chemotherapy and radiotherapy cycle, so my chemotherapy started in December.
Lynn: You signed up for the MoonWalk immediately?
David: It was the day I was diagnosed that I signed up for the MoonWalk, which I'd done
once before, and it was kind of a two-fingered message to the disease that, you know what
I'm not gonna be put back by this. And from day one I'm going to take a very positive
approach to it, and make something positive out of it, and that's exactly what I did.
Lynn: I think it was quite an interesting MoonWalk for you, because you were joined
by friends along the route, is that right?
David: Yes I did the MoonWalk about a week after my chemotherapy, the last session of
chemotherapy, and my partner really wasn't that happy about me doing it, because I wasn't
very well.
Two friends of mine stepped forward and said, look, we'll escort him around and if he's
not looking very well we'll put him out. And they were both retired members of the SAS,
so sure enough they were both in head-to-toe dark clothing as you would expect. One of
them was on a bicycle going around keeping track of me, and the other one was in a car
that they would use to take me away if I wasn't looking very well, and I agreed with them
if they said 'no you're not looking very well' then I would stop doing it, and they did that.
And they popped out of bushes at strategic points to make sure I was okay. That's a true
story.
Lynn: Was it very emotional?
David: Oh it was fantastic because, I mean, I had no hair, I'd been made up with quite
fancy face paint, all the water ladies – who I got to know through various things I had
done with them for male breast cancer awareness – were there waiting and cheering me across
the line, so it was pretty special because I actually felt that, you know, I'd acheived
my aim which was the beat the damn thing.
Lynn: I know that last year the focus for Walk The Walk was that 'men get breast cancer
too'. You've got your own t-shirt!
David: I have, yes! I'm not sure it's true but I always claim the idea for it, because
I was asked what do I think about men with breast cancer. I said, well the biggest problem
is everything's pink. So you go to a breast cancer clinic and everything is pink, it's
all geared towards ladies. And of course there are 350 men a year who get breast cancer.
And they came up with this brilliant idea, firstly publicising the fact, and secondly
giving us our own t-shirts with the blue bra, to raise awareness that we as men are susceptible
to the disease.
Lynn: Had you ever met a man that had got breast cancer before?
David: I met one man in my own village, oddly enough, who'd had breast cancer. He'd had
it 10 years previously. So the first time I met a number of men was when the Walk The
Walk charity brought six of us together again to do awareness stuff for men with breast
cancer. And that was great. We were able to discuss the side effects, and there are side
effects which are specific to men, we were able to talk about how we coped with it, and
it was just really nice to talk to fellow sufferers, who actually understood what you
were talking about.
Lynn: Where are you in terms of… are you in remission?
David: Yeah, I'm in remission. I get to see my breast cancer surgeon once a year, and
six months apart I see my oncologist once a year, so it's like every six months. And
they check me, and to date I'm being absolutely fine. I'm very lucky, I discovered my lump
very early, most importantly is I reacted to it quickly, and that's the message, you
know, to men out there, is if you get a lump in your chest do something about it.
Men are not good at going to the doctors generally, and if we find lumps we tend to ignore them,
so I'm a great believer in getting the message out there, and if one or two men think 'oh
you know I've got a lump, I need to go to a doctor' then it's been worth all the effort.
Lynn: Thank you David, it's lovely to meet you.
David: And lovely to meet you too.