Even as we’re riding the tail end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and informational campaigns fill the airwaves aplenty, misconceptions about breast cancer cling to people’s minds, providing them with a temporary shield of comfort.
Breast cancer is perhaps unique in its associations, often sparking discussions around femininity, identity, and disfigurement. I spent a summer at a reputable hospital interviewing patients and publishing their stories, many of the cases being breast cancer. For these women, the thought of a mastectomy — a potentially lifesaving surgery to remove the breast and the disease — carries with it concerns about body image and self-worth.
Diagnosed women can’t help asking their husbands, “Will you still love me if I lose my breasts?” Usually half-joking, but the question is also more of a reassurance. Still – does a wife asking a husband that specific question result from a kind of primordial sexism? The association of femininity and breast cancer is pernicious, because it genders the disease. It implies that our womanliness is diseased, not our bodies.
Not only women
One of the more – if not most – persistent myths about breast cancer is that it’s exclusive to women. This assumption often leads men to overlook warning signs and delay seeking medical advice. “I found out accidentally,” says Faheem Abbas, who was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year. “I started lifting weights and noticed I was only developing muscle on the left side, and that there was pain on the right side,” he explains. “I then noticed an abrasion on my right breast and showed my wife who also felt a lump. After a biopsy, it was clear it was stage two cancer.”
The idea that breast cancer is a women-only issue is archaic, and it leaves men feeling blindsided when it strikes. “I was in denial,” revealed Abbas. “You hear of women’s breast cancer a lot, but you never hear of men until someone you know comes along.” Just because something is uncommon doesn’t mean it’s not possible.
A study from the National Cancer Registry revealed that out of 269,707 cancer patients in the country who were analysed, with both genders combined, breast cancer was the most common. We all have breasts, and cancer doesn’t care how uncomfortable the conversation makes us. “There’s absolutely no shame in it,” Abbas adds as a message to other men, rejecting any stigma attached to the diagnosis.
The reality of it all
One of Pakistan’s foremost breast surgeons, Dr Abida Sattar, has a clear message for anyone who uses the term “prevention” loosely: “We really can’t prevent breast cancer. And if we can’t prevent something, then the second-best thing we can do is detect it early.”
According to her, myths about immunity from breast cancer are dangerously misleading. One of the major ones being that women who have just given birth or are breastfeeding are immune. “Despite a healthy lifestyle, exercising, and having absolutely no family history, you can still get breast cancer. Most cases are sporadic. If you are going to wait to find a lump or for something to become physically detectable—you may have waited too long,” she tells The Express Tribune. Her words urge people, particularly those over 40, to get regular screenings.
Breast cancer can also progress silently in its early stages. You’ll likely be asymptomatic and have a very normal self-exam as well as a doctor’s exam. Dr Sattar’s advice is straightforward: “All lumps and bumps are not cancer, but all lumps and bumps require medical attention.”
For those who experience this silent battle, the emotional journey often parallels the physical one. Nadia Jamil, actor and breast cancer survivor, was unable to get back to The Express Tribune but reflected on this complexity in a previous interview, sharing, “The daunting question was how to let go and survive heartbreak, a potentially fatal disease and then a mind assaulted by depression — all at the same time. But I was given a new lease on life, and I survived. Ironically, it was pain that helped me to evolve and move on. I now find myself grateful for and to everything, both the pain and pleasure.”
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