May 9, 2006 5:08 pm US/Eastern
Male Breast Cancer Survivor Speaks About Ordeal
by Pat Ciarrocchi
MERION STATION (CBS 3) ―
Breast cancer in men is statistically rare by comparison to women, but a story of survival still has the power to inspire.
For every new case of breast cancer in men this year, 100 women will be diagnosed with the disease.
CBS 3's Pat Ciarrocchi met a Marv Shefsky in a neighborhood post office and he told her that he was a breast cancer survivor.
At the tiny Merion Station post office, 58-year-old Marv Shefsky weighs letters, sells stamps and dispenses wisdom.
"We push breast cancer. I do especially. You know, I'm a survivor," he said.
Shefsky has been cancer-free for five years because of a hug from a buddy that his attention.
"He grabbed me and gave me a big bear hug, and this guy's young and he's strong, I let out a scream," he said.
Shefsky said that something in his chest had hurt.
"I let about six months go by until I seen something surface near my nipple. I thought it was a cyst," he said.
But after seeing a doctor, he discovered it was actually a tumor.
"And he said I had to have a mastectomy. It was breast cancer," Shefsky said.
As a man, Shefsky's cancer was no more serious than a woman's just rarer. The disease ignited his passion for the Race For The Cure.
"I was always nervous as a guy up there on the Art Museum steps with a pink shirt on. But when they started playing the music and I came down, it was one of my biggest highs," he said.
For Shefsky, it was a high that had to be remembered permanently, not just with a scar.
"I decided to get the breast cancer ribbon tattooed on my chest. I know it's weird," he said as he showed of the permanent marking.
But it is a powerful symbol that he revealed with his girl friend at his side.
Marv Shefskey, breast cancer survivor with a pink ribbon tattoo on his chest to prove it.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
