Stage IV Breast Cancer: Màrius's Patient Story
This breast cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage IV
- Sex
- Male
- Spread to
- Bone: vertebra/cervical spine and ribs
- Treatment
- chemotherapy, radiation, surgery and targeted therapy
- Outcome
- Living With Cancer
Treatment course, step by step
- Breast/nipple lump noticed and left unchecked for about 5 months
- December 2017 severe rib pain and retracted nipple led to specialist evaluation confirming tumor
- chemotherapy started
- hospitalization for severe cervical pain revealed metastasis with a damaged vertebra, requiring urgent surgery
- first-line treatment included 18 chemotherapy sessions, radiation, and 3 operations over about 1 year
- chemotherapy did not shrink the tumor enough
- newly approved cyclin inhibitor treatment offered and worked
- lifelong medication and follow-up every 4 months.
What happened, in summary
Màrius Soler is a man with breast cancer and the founder of INVI, an association created to make men with breast cancer visible. His story began with a small lump behind the nipple. Like many men, he did not immediately think of breast cancer and waited about 5 months. In December 2017, severe rib pain and a retracted nipple finally led him to specialist care. The doctor confirmed that the lump was a tumor. Màrius began chemotherapy, but soon afterward he was hospitalized with severe cervical pain. Tests showed bone metastasis, including a badly damaged vertebra, and he needed urgent surgery. His first year of treatment included 18 chemotherapy sessions, radiation therapy, and 3 operations. The side effects were significant: chronic fatigue, sleepiness, sexual side effects, and the need to avoid high-impact activity because of bone metastases. When chemotherapy did not reduce the tumor enough, his oncologist offered a newly approved cyclin inhibitor treatment. It worked, and Màrius began celebrating extra years of life. As of October 2021, his disease was described as dormant, but he still needed lifelong medication and reviews every 4 months. He used his experience to build INVI and advocate for men facing a disease often treated as invisible.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by MatchTrial Historias Reales. Read the original in full
How we source and attribute stories Accuracy and limitations
These are lay summaries of published cancer stories, for information only. No two cancers behave the same way, and nothing here predicts your own diagnosis or replaces advice from your oncology team. Read the full disclaimer