What happened, in summary

Aileen tells the story of her husband Harvey, who was 59 when he was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast. Harvey first noticed a lump in summer 2022 but thought it was probably another lipoma. In early 2023, he hit the right side of his chest while working on his truck, and the area hurt. He delayed care while their daughter was having health issues. In June, the lesion broke through the skin just above his nipple. His doctor immediately sent him for scans and biopsy, which confirmed grade 3 invasive lobular carcinoma. Harvey’s oncologist explained that his ILC would be treated the same way it would be treated in a woman. He had a right mastectomy, and pathology confirmed grade 3, Stage IIIC invasive lobular carcinoma. A port was placed, and 2 days later he began AC-T chemotherapy. As of March 2024, radiation was planned for April after chemotherapy, followed by tamoxifen and possibly abemaciclib. Harvey’s genetic testing was negative, although his family history included pancreatic cancer in his mother and ductal breast cancer in his sister. His story is important because male ILC is rare, and he and Aileen struggled to find other men with the same subtype.