Survivor seizes chance to make people aware Mark Goldstein, 74, developed, overcame bout of breast cancer BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer Mark Goldstein JACKSON - He is a survivor and his aim is to heighten the awareness that men can develop breast cancer. "Statistically, this is a woman's disease and there is no doubt about that" said Mark Goldstein, 74, a 19-year survivor male breast cancer. Goldstein, who lives in northern New Jersey, spoke to the Men's Club at the Westlake Golf and Country Club adult community on Sept. 20. "There are about 185,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year, compared to 2,030 men who are diagnosed yearly, but it's just as tragic for a man lose his life to this form of the disease as it is for a woman to lose her life," he said. Goldstein said many men cannot believe they can develop what is thought as a woman's disease, "If you don't think that is shocking then all you would have to do is to have been in my shoes at that time when everybody around me expressed, some seriously and some with a wink, that 'Mark got what women get,' " he said. Before that, Goldstein said, he did not have a clue that men could develop breast cancer. That all changed in 1988. Goldstein said one day in February 1988 he was shaving when he looked in the mirror and noticed that his left nipple was receding and beneath it he could feel a lump. In typical male fashion he did nothing. "Had that been my wife, we would have been in the doctor's office the next day, but for me there was not only no reaction, there was inaction," he said. "I did nothing for three months." He said about 2,000 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year and about 450 succumb to the disease. That number is increasing, he said. "But you can't find (male) breast cancer listed under the 15 conventional cancers," he said. "There's prostate, colon, bladder, melanoma, lymphoma and on and on. We're off the radar in terms of awareness." He told his audience that if breast cancer was a sport, men would know all about it. "We would have all the statistics on it," he said. "We would chart it. We would socialize about it and it would probably have a uniform, but it's not a sport." Goldstein said embarrassment, fear and denial all play a role in the delay of seeking help. He said the public and insurance companies must be educated on the subject. "I submitted a claim to my wife's company and it came back with a note that said the service that has been billed cannot be performed on a person of this sex," Goldstein said. "I called them up and I didn't have to say much, just the word 'sue.' " Goldstein underwent treatment for the disease - chemotherapy, radiation and a modified radical mastectomy - and from 1988 and 1992, "I lived a relatively normal post-breast cancer life," he said. "I did my job. I engaged in activities that I had done before and about halfway through [that period of time] I felt I transitioned from being a survivor to being a conqueror. Then one day in September 1992 I felt I reached a transition [again] from a survivor and conqueror to becoming an advocate." Goldstein said he heard about a race in New York City and knew he had to participate in the "For Women Only Race for the Cure." He filled out the race application using only his first initial and paid the entry fee with a money order. On race day he appeared at the starting line. "This was the start of my advocacy," he told the audience. "When I presented myself they said I couldn't run because I was a man," but that did not stop Goldstein and off he went. Goldstein said there are different kinds of tragedies and said they typically happen to somebody else. "When these tragedies occur there is a response," he said. "People who see these tragedies say, 'Thank God it wasn't me.' " Goldstein said there are also personal tragedies where people ask "Why me?" Those individuals focus on questions like "What did I do to bring this to myself?" "What could I have done to stop it from happening?" and "What should I do about what's happened to me?" It is the "see and seize" group that converges with the "what should I do?" people from the "why me?" group who act. "From that comes the 'why not me?' group who says they can do something and the most perfect symbol of this is Nancy Brinker, who in 1982 made a pledge to her dying sister Susan (Komen) that she would do everything she could to eradicate breast cancer," Goldstein said. "That was the start of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the foundation we support here at Westlake." Goldstein said that in their response to breast cancer, women have started foundations, initiated crusades, designated awareness months, formed networks, lobbied public officials, walked, run and marched. "Twenty years ago breast cancer was a closeted subject and no one spoke about it," he said, "but the Komen Race for the Cure has turned that around." Goldstein said he has run in every Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and others, for a total of 167 races throughout the United States and internationally. In 2005 he was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame "I am fortunate to have the endorsement by way of sponsorship of the New Balance Athletic Shoe Company. I am a member of the honorary Team New Balance which is a team of survivors and I'm the only male survivor on that team." Goldstein, said he participates in the Race for the Cure to dispel the misconception that breast cancer is only a women's disease. Goldstein said he appreciates what the Westlake Men's Club has done in its support of the Race for the Cure, Goldstein said he lives with lymphedema, which is the byproduct of excessive lymph removal that occurred during the modified radical mastectomy he underwent 19 years ago. Lymphedema is incurable. Men's Club Vice President Larry Hartman said the organization is 6 years old. Between 80 and 100 men attend monthly meetings. The club sponsors a Little League baseball team, provides scholarships to Jackson high school students, raises funds to send phone cards to New Jersey soldiers who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, helps fund the Race for the Cure and supports research into prostate cancer and autism.