COMES TO A CLOSE. WE WANTED TO SHARE ANOTHER STORY AND IT HAS TO DO WITH WHO CAN GET BREAST CANCER. THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY SAYS ABOUT 530 MEN WILL DIE EACH YEAR IN AMERICA FROM BREAST CANCER. NOW, JUST LAST MONTH, YOU MAY REMEMBER ACTOR RICHARD ROUNDTREE DIED AFTER BEING DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER IN THE 90S. HE HAD ANOTHER CANCER EVEN MORE RECENTLY. TODAY, WLWT NEWS 5 MEREDITH STUTZ SHARES THE STORY OF A MAN WHO SHARES HIS CANCER JOURNEY WITH US. MEREDITH. HEY, GOOD MORNING TO YOU BOTH. JOHN HALL IS A BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR AND ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY, ABOUT 2800 NEW CASES OF BREAST CANCER WILL BE FOUND IN MEN THIS YEAR. SO JOHN IS 80 AND HE LIVES IN MILFORD. HE SAID HE BECAME SUSPICIOUS TEN YEARS AGO WHEN HE STARTED WAKING UP WITH WET T SHIRTS. HE THOUGHT IT WAS TOOTHPASTE AFTER A MAMMOGRAM, AN ULTRASOUND. A FEW WEEKS LATER, HE FOUND OUT HE HAD STAGE ONE BREAST CANCER. AT FIRST HE HAD A LUMPECTOMY. AND THEN AT AGE 70, A DOUBLE MASTECTOMY. ME WE WERE THERE DURING A CHECKUP AT CHRIST’S HOSPITAL FOLLOWING THAT SUCCESSFUL SURGERY, JOHN SHARED HOW HE NOW FINDS HIMSELF BEING A LIVING ADVOCATE, SHARING HIS OWN STORY TO OTHER MEN. IT’S SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, BUT IT’S NOT RIGHT NOW. AND IF I CAN HELP A BIT, IT’S FINE WITH ME. I’LL DO THAT. THERE’S A VERY HIGH, HIGH SURVIVAL RATE, AND EVEN IF YOU’RE DIAGNOSED JUST A LITTLE BIT LATER AND SO IT’S NOT SOMETHING THAT IS GOING TO JUST GO AWAY IF YOU IGNORE IT. AND IF YOU CAN BE PROACTIVE ABOUT YOUR OWN HEALTH AND WELL BEING AND SEE THE DOCTOR, THEN THERE’S A VERY GOOD CHANCE YOU’LL BE ABLE TO FIGHT IT. GOOD ADVICE THERE. BY THE WAY, THAT CHECKUP THAT YOU JUST SAW ON SCREEN RESULTED IN ANOTHER GOOD ANNUAL VISIT FOR JOHN. NO SIGNS OF CANCER RETURNING, WHICH IS REALLY GOOD. DOCTOR MANDERS TOLD ME IN HER CAREER SHE’S SEEN ABOUT TEN MEN WHO HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER, RANGING FROM MEN IN THEIR 30S ALL THE WAY UP TO THEIR 90S, AS THEY BOTH STRESS THE IMPORTANCE OF MEN GETTING SCREENINGS, ESPECIALLY IF THEY HAVE SYMPTOMS LIKE A LUMP DISCHARGE AND REDNESS OF SKIN. MEREDITH STUTZ. WLWT. NEWS 5. ALL RIGHT, MEREDITH. THANK YOU. OUR COVERAGE CONTINUES AS WE DO CLOSE OUT BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH. TONIGHT AT SIX WLWT NEWS 5 JATARA MCGEE TAKES AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT BREAST CANCER AND BLACK WOMEN. WHAT LOCAL EXPERTS AND SURVIVORS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE DISPARITY FOR MINORITIES.
Milford man shares his breast cancer survival in hopes of saving lives
John Hall thought the wet spots on his t-shirt were toothpaste. A mammogram later revealed he had breast cancer.
Updated: 2:07 PM EDT Oct 31, 2023
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, one Milford man says he isn't limited to one month on the calendar to raise awareness about his story to help others.John Hall says when he was 70 years old, he used to wake up with stains on his t-shirt. He told WLWT, "I thought it was toothpaste." The strange occurrence kept happened, so he went to see his doctor which led him to get a mammogram and ultrasound. "Yes, men can get mammograms," Hall said with a small smile. "And they did also an ultrasound. And so they didn't know what it was, but it didn't belong in there. So they told me I needed a biopsy, which they were able to do right away, and that I would get the results. I would hear from Dr. Manders, you know, and I went to Dr. Manders," he said of his doctor, breast surgeon Dr. Jennifer Manders, at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. "She told me that I had breast cancer. My wife was with me, and I got so upset I started crying because I thought my life was over."Hall was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer. He said he didn't have any known breast cancer in his family. The American Cancer Society reports approximately 2,800 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2023, and approximately 530 men will die from breast cancer. " At first, Hall had a lumpectomy, but his medical team wasn't able to remove all the breast cancer. Hall decided he wanted to have a double mastectomy. "I was kind of ashamed to tell anybody at first," Hall said. "But then I decided, you know, men need to know this. And so I've survived 10 years and I'm a breast cancer survivor, so you just need to catch it early. And because mine was stage one, I didn't have to have chemotherapy or radiation."For years, Hall has gotten a check-up with Manders at Christ Hospital. On Monday, WLWT was present for one of those check-ups. Manders said Hall, now 80 years old, didn't appear to have any concerning signs of cancer returning. She told WLWT she is impressed and honored to know Hall and see what an advocate he is for sharing his own breast cancer story."There's a very high, high survival rate," Manders said. "And even if you're diagnosed just a little bit later and so it's not something that is going to just go away if you ignore it. And if you can be proactive about your own health and well-being and see the doctor, then there's a very good chance you'll be able to fight it."Hall created flyers that he said he liked to hand out to men of all ages, urging them to self-check for possible breast cancer and seek help immediately if they see possible symptoms like a lump, redness or discharge."It's something that needs to be public knowledge, but it's not right now," Hall said of his decade campaign of raising awareness about breast cancer in men. "And if I can help a bit, that's fine with me. I'll do that."
CINCINNATI — As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, one Milford man says he isn't limited to one month on the calendar to raise awareness about his story to help others.
John Hall says when he was 70 years old, he used to wake up with stains on his t-shirt. He told WLWT, "I thought it was toothpaste." The strange occurrence kept happened, so he went to see his doctor which led him to get a mammogram and ultrasound.
"Yes, men can get mammograms," Hall said with a small smile. "And they did also an ultrasound. And so they didn't know what it was, but it didn't belong in there. So they told me I needed a biopsy, which they were able to do right away, and that I would get the results. I would hear from Dr. Manders, you know, and I went to Dr. Manders," he said of his doctor, breast surgeon Dr. Jennifer Manders, at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. "She told me that I had breast cancer. My wife was with me, and I got so upset I started crying because I thought my life was over."
Hall was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer. He said he didn't have any known breast cancer in his family. The American Cancer Society reports approximately 2,800 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2023, and approximately 530 men will die from breast cancer. "
At first, Hall had a lumpectomy, but his medical team wasn't able to remove all the breast cancer. Hall decided he wanted to have a double mastectomy.
"I was kind of ashamed to tell anybody at first," Hall said. "But then I decided, you know, men need to know this. And so I've survived 10 years and I'm a breast cancer survivor, so you just need to catch it early. And because mine was stage one, I didn't have to have chemotherapy or radiation."
For years, Hall has gotten a check-up with Manders at Christ Hospital. On Monday, WLWT was present for one of those check-ups. Manders said Hall, now 80 years old, didn't appear to have any concerning signs of cancer returning. She told WLWT she is impressed and honored to know Hall and see what an advocate he is for sharing his own breast cancer story.
"There's a very high, high survival rate," Manders said. "And even if you're diagnosed just a little bit later and so it's not something that is going to just go away if you ignore it. And if you can be proactive about your own health and well-being and see the doctor, then there's a very good chance you'll be able to fight it."
Hall created flyers that he said he liked to hand out to men of all ages, urging them to self-check for possible breast cancer and seek help immediately if they see possible symptoms like a lump, redness or discharge.
"It's something that needs to be public knowledge, but it's not right now," Hall said of his decade campaign of raising awareness about breast cancer in men.
"And if I can help a bit, that's fine with me. I'll do that."
