One day, Brian Place, 60, discovered a lump in his left breast. He originally dismissed any concerns, attributing it to a bump he may have experienced while playing rugby. He was later surprised when a doctor told him that he had breast cancer. Place never thought that men could get breast cancer at all.
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Place's diagnosis took place in 2005. As said above, he noticed the pea-sized lump but didn't pay much attention. "I was playing rugby at the time, a high-impact sport, and I thought I'd taken a bump in the chest and a cyst had grown as a result," said Place, according to the Daily Mail.
One month later, the lump stayed put, so he finally decided to visit a doctor to get some answers. His GP referred him to a breast clinic. Place described the experience as him feeling like a "duck out of water", as he was the only man in the clinic. After a mammogram, an ultrasound, and a biopsy were performed by doctors, they confirmed that Brian Place had breast cancer.
"Nothing can prepare you for it. It's just shock getting told that you've got cancer for the first time," said Place. Doctors suspect that the tumor had appeared about five years before his diagnosis. Two weeks after his cancer diagnosis, Place underwent a mastectomy to remove his left breast.
He also received radiotherapy and had to take tamoxifen, used to treat breast cancer. Place stopped taking the latter medication after feeling side effects and later underwent another mastectomy in 2007 to remove his right breast for prevention and aesthetic reasons.
A New Life
Ever since his surgeries, Place had learned to live with his scars. "Once you've taken that step to actually go bare-chested on holiday or around the pool or even the back garden, nobody takes a second glance" said Place. He feared he wouldn't be accepted, but was pleasantly surprised when he didn't experience any issue of that sort.
After returning to normal life in 2010, unfortunately, everything changed in August 2023. An excruciating pain in his back appeared while he was golfing. "I was crawling along the floor," said Palce. "I could hardly get out of bed."
Doctors performed tests on Place and later confirmed that one of his vertebrae had collapsed and that his cancer was back in February 2024. His cancer now affected his spine, pelvis, and liver. Despite the bad news, he remains with a positive attitude while also taking medication to manage his symptoms.
Brian Place now seeks to raise awareness about breast cancer in men. "This is a genderless disease, check yourself and if you find anything suspicious — get it checked out straight away," he said. "Men must seek help and not stick their head in the sand."
