Peter Criss, founding member of rock band KISS, knows that many of his male fans are macho, so he is making the rounds to tell them even tough rocker guys like him can suffer from a disease usually associated with women — breast cancer.
Criss, who was the New York rock band’s drummer on and off from its founding in 1972 until 2004 and the voice on some of their hits, including the 1976 Top 10 hit Beth and Hard Luck Woman, said too many men don’t seek treatment and think breast discomfort will go away on its own.
Criss, who discovered a lump in his left nipple in December 2007, said men need to get over their perception that breast cancer is a woman’s disease.
“It can happen to you and when it does, if you don’t deal with it right away, with your ‘dude’ and your metal and your tattoos, you’ll go in the box and we’ll see you,” Criss said during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Criss, 63, underwent a lumpectomy in February last year and a mastectomy the following month under the care of Alex Swistel, director of the Weill Cornell Breast Center in New York, and he often felt odd as the only man in the waiting room.
While breast cancer among men is 100 times less common than among women, it can be deadly. The American Cancer Society estimated there would be 1,910 new cases of male breast cancer this year and about 440 US men would die from the disease this year.
Criss, who is now cancer free, acknowledged that the treatment was unpleasant.
“Whoever invented [mammogram machines] had to do it in the medieval days,” he said, adding that it was nearly impossible to fit a small male breast into the machine. He called the pain “excruciating,” but a worthwhile price to pay to be healthy.
Criss, who is currently working on an autobiography as well as a new rock album, said his bout with cancer had affected his songwriting.
“My lyrics are not so deep and dismal,” he said.
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