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A former GP, Michael Greenhalgh (57 at the time) was diagnosed with breast cancer in the spring of 2014, shortly after he found a lump on the left side of his chest.
For start, he didn’t think much of it and then he went to see the GP. He went to see a consultant in Northampton, and then he did a biopsy. After 3 or 4 days, while Michael was at work, he found out about his diagnosis.
“Male breast cancer is very rare, I was a GP for 35 years and I’ve never seen it in my practice.”
He thought it wouldn’t be possible that he has breast cancer, but it turned out the complete opposite. The breast cancer was spread out on both sides of his chest and he had a double mastectomy. A week after he was diagnosed him and his wife participated in Walk The Walk and have completed 26 miles.
To share his experience, his son Robert advised him to start a blog. So that is how the Chemo Challenge blog was born. He hoped that, by writing about his condition, it would help a lot of people understand the scope of male breast cancer, as well as raising awareness of the disease itself.
Michael received a lot of support from his family such as his wife Jill, friends and relatives. He is very active and even though he retired almost three and a half years ago, he has a lot of hobbies such as cycling and golf. He loves water-colouring. He recently became a grandfather as well. This brave man also has a Parkinson’s disease. He always had a passion for helping people and, because of the fact that his father was a GP, he decided to go down that health route as well.
By comparing the mortality rate percentage, it can be argued that the male breast cancer is actually more aggressive in men than in women. As a former GP, Michael talked about the possible reason behind that as well. His wife Jill, mentioned the fact that the breast cancer didn’t affect Michael’s identical twin, which just shows that there is more to do about the research, considering that not all is related to genetics. More in the documentary.