Firefighter Advocates For Men’s Health While He Battles Breast Cancer In ICU

Matt Bowman has spent his life helping others – first as a firefighter in Knox County, Indiana, and then during his journey to becoming a nurse.

And he still hasn’t stopped helping people, even after getting diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017.

Earlier this year, his cancer sadly came back.They found one nodule on each of his lungs and he ended up in the ICU at Good Samaritan Hospital. Although his prognosis is terminal, he is still fighting, not just for himself, but for others as well.

We hear about women having breast cancer quite often, but little is talked about regarding men with breast cancer.

According to Bowman, “Breast cancer affects one percent of men a year. But it is found most often later because people don’t believe it exists.”

Bowman made it his mission to advocate for men’s health and educate them on the topics surrounding men and breast cancer. He pleads with men to take their health seriously and to get the help they need as quickly as possible.

“Men are too proud and too masculine to say oh I have breast cancer,” Bowman told News 10.

Bowman says if they had found his cancer sooner, he might be in a different boat now.

According to the CDC, about one out of every 100 breast cancers diagnosed in the United States is found in a man. Believe it or not, the most common types of breast cancer in men are the same kinds in women: Invasive ductal carcinoma, Invasive lobular carcinoma, and Ductal carcinoma in situ.

The most common symptoms of breast cancer in men are: lump or swelling in the breast, redness or flaky skin, irritation or dimpling of breast skin, nipple discharge, and pain the nipple area.

If you have worrisome symptoms, please contact your doctor to set up an appointment.

While Bowman continues to educate people, Vincennes University has decided to do something special for him. Bowman had been studying nursing at the university and was only one course short of finishing the nursing program before he ended up in the ICU.

This past week, according to WTHI-TV, the university’s President Chuch Johnson and colleagues paid Bowman a visit and presented him with his nursing degree.

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