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Chris Christensen had always been the corporate dad, the man with the edge.

He wore conservative blue suits over custom shirts and pricey ties. He drove modest but impressive cars and sent his kids to the right schools.

The only place he let loose was on his motorcycle.

He was a sales executive with Nortel Technologies. But when the company began downsizing, he quit to work for a start-up company, which failed.

Interviewing in his 50s proved harder than expected. And, since he couldn’t get a job, he hit the road on a 30-day, cross-country motorcycle trip. He grew his hair, kept a journal and began to imagine himself as Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck or Jack Kerouac.

Still, he wondered what he would do once he was back home.

When he returned, his wife, Jennifer, told him to continue relaxing, that he had earned it after all his hard work at Nortel.

He held a slew of random jobs: bartender, cook, antique store manager, truck driver. His hair reached his waist, and he got several tattoos of pin-up girls with exposed breasts.

People tell him his cancer is punishment for the tattoos.

THE DIAGNOSIS

He never thought he could develop breast cancer, but the disease found him Aug. 3, and changed his life.

The day before his 59th birthday, he was driving and itched a lump on his chest. He told Jennifer, who encouraged him to get it checked.

Chris’ doctor thought it was calcium buildup, but suggested a biopsy. It showed Stage 3 cancer in his right breast tissue and lymph nodes. Surgery to remove the breast was scheduled for Aug. 22.

At first, he was surprised. Cancer in his family was limited to an aunt and his dad.

Then he was embarrassed.

“You’re looked at rather strange(ly) by men and women if you have it,” Chris said. “My family has been (very) … supportive, but it gets old to them after a while. You can’t go to a support group” because none exist for men.

FIGHTING BACK

Of all breast cancer cases, about 1 percent occur in men, according to the American Cancer Society. If men carry a genetic predisposition to the disease, it most likely will occur in the BRCA2 gene. Chris is considering testing for his children’s sake. He has two sons and wants them to know if he — or they –carries the mutation.

After finding little or no support beyond his family, Chris wanted to help other men with breast cancer. He heard about a new study that evaluated how different doses of chemotherapy affect cancer reduction.

He joined the study.

His family opposed the experiment. He secretly signed up, telling only his wife. He got six chemotherapy treatments every two weeks. Many patients get only four every three weeks.

The Christensens were living in Wisconsin and Jennifer was about to take a new job. But when she arrived, they told her the position was no longer available. Both without work, they had to live on food stamps — a first for Chris, the former executive. Jennifer eventually found a job on Hilton Head Island with Bank of America, giving them both benefits.

When they moved here in November, Chris’ new doctor took him off the experimental study and gave him four treatments every two to three weeks.

He has finished his last round of chemo. Doctors believe Chris is free of the disease, but are starting radiation, which lasts about six weeks.

LIVING ON

While the cancer is gone or nearly so, it’s changed his appearance and his life.

“This is not me,” he said. “I don’t know how to get my eyebrows back. I don’t know how to get my hair back. I don’t know how to get the steroids out of my face. I don’t even know who I am.”

He feels guilty his wife is working so hard when he’s not, though the chemotherapy makes him too ill to work.

It also changed his sense of adventure.

The chemo made him tired and unmotivated. The only thing he enjoyed was building model cars from the ’60s. He had to stop even that when the treatments caused him to lose the feeling in his fingers.

But his difficulties have not dampened his will to go on.

Now that chemo’s over, Chris is starting to enjoy life again. He takes his dog, Tanner, to the beach on days he feels well.

He’s looking forward to finishing radiation and starting over with a new career in the service industry. He hopes it’s at Barnes and Noble.

His cancer has created more awareness in his own family. The men check themselves for breast cancer now. All are more health conscious.

“I really don’t know what the future will be, about getting (cancer) somewhere else,” he said. “But I look at it this way … I’m lucky, my kids are raised and grown and I’m glad I got to do what I did.”

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Just read a story in the Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press about the American Cancer Society Relay for Life event. Their local event is being run by Glen Franzen and Joann D’Alton. The story goes on to talk about the event and how much it raised last year but he part that really caught my eye was Glen Franzen battle with ignorance. Glen spent fifteen months arguing with Medicare because his claim was marked ‘wrong gender’

Wow we certainly do need to get the word out if even the big companies don’t recognize the issue.

You can read the full article by Janet Ortegon at www.sheboygan-press.com

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