Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Breast cancer

When I read the article “Wake-up call to all women on breast cancer” (Open Page, June 19), I was reminded of my father who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Until then, I was under the impression that cancer of the breast was common among women and was absent among men. Subsequently, I learnt the prevalence of cancer among men was two per cent.

It all began when my father went to pluck some flowers from the garden. He had a tiny nodule near his left nipple which he ignored for a couple of months, until a fluid started oozing from it due to the pricking of a thorn. When he consulted the family doctor, he was referred to an oncologist who diagnosed it as cancer in the second stage. He was advised to undergo mastectomy without any delay. My father went through the surgery which was followed by radiation as chemotherapy was not known at that time. The secondaries developed after eight years in another part of the body and, within six months, he passed away.

N. Meera Raghavendra Rao,

Chennai

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