'I Won't Back Down'
- Last spring, Father Marty Goetz, 55, began experiencing back pain. In July, his doctors found lesions in his back and diagnosed him with breast cancer.
- Father Goetz’s cancer has already metastasized to his bones. This week, the basketball teams of Notre Dame High School held a “Strike Out Cancer Night” to benefit Father Goetz.
- Besides an operation, Goetz has been able to undergo treatment from home. There is not a cure for his cancer, but he is learning to live a rich life with cancer as a part of it.
Father Goetz knows that he has the support of Catholics praying for him around the world, but this week, he had the privilege of seeing the support he has closer to home. The basketball teams of Notre Dame High School hosted a "Strike Out Cancer Night" dedicated to the priest. It was a heartwarming display of how much Father Goetz means to his community.
Read MoreGoetz's cancer journey began with back pain. "It started to get so bad that I could hardly walk or do anything,” he said. He hoped the pain would go away but it only grew more severe. Goetz's doctors discovered lesions in his back and delivered a shocking diagnosis: Goetz's had breast cancer, and his cancer had already spread into his bones.
Father Goetz has had a tumor surgically removed, and he is going through chemotherapy, which he takes orally. "I'm blessed that I don't have to go to the hospital, yet, and get infusions," he said. "Everything I can take medication-wise is at home. So I am truly blessed that way."
Through all the uncertainty he has faced this year, Father Goetz is guided both by his faith, and the lyrics of Tom Petty. Speaking with The Hawk Eye, Goetz said, "In the words of Tom Petty, 'I won't back down.' We're going to get them.”
"The prognosis right now is I'm learning how to live with cancer," he said. "They told me there is no cure for it yet. But the doctor is going to teach me how to live with it. And he has promised me good years."
Symptoms of Male Breast Cancer
Male breast cancer is a disease where malignant (cancer) cells form in the breast tissue. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS) approximately 2,650 new cases of invasive breast cancer in men will be diagnosed with year. The lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer if you're a man is 1 in 833. A man's risk of developing breast cancer may be higher if there's a history of breast cancer in the family.
A lot of men tend to ignore symptoms. Marc Futterweit, a two-time male breast cancer survivor, knows thank first-hand.
The most common sign of breast cancer in men, as it is in women, is a lump in the breast. Lumps around the collar bone or armpit are also common when the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. These lumps or swellings are often painless and can sometimes be too deep to be felt by hand or too small for the naked eye to see.
Other symptoms include:
- Skin dimpling or puckering
- Nipple retraction (turning inward)
- Redness or scaling of the nipple or breast skin
- Discharge from the nipple
Survivor Story: 'You Are Not Alone’
Men may ignore symptoms because of the stigma around male breast cancer, according to Marc Futterweit, a two-time male breast cancer survivor.
"My doctor said, 'I want you to have a mammogram.' I said, 'what do you mean a mammogram? I don't have breasts.' ”
His wife asked what the doctor said.
"I didn't tell her," he said. "The problem with men is that they wait, and they think things are going to go away. And then you have a real problem."
His family had to look through his things to find out the truth of what he was dealing with.
"Men are ashamed or embarrassed'this is a woman's disease,' this, that, and the other. Just remember, it's nothing that you have done to cause you to get breast cancer. It's nothing to be embarrassed about,” he says.
Futterweit urges men that it's not just a woman's disease, and that you are not alone.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
