East Sussex man who had breast cancer takes part in charity fashion show and urges other men to get checked

Mark Winter, 59, recently took part in The Show by Breast Cancer Now, a fashion event held in London on Thursday, April 25.

The charity’s show was hosted by TV presenter Lisa Snowdon, who has been a Breast Cancer Now ambassador since 2005, and Mark participated to show that it is not just women who can get breast cancer. Visit breastcancernow.org/get-involved/special-events/show-london.

Mark, an architectural technician and surveyor, said: “It was absolutely amazing.” He said the models, who had been measured for clothes previously, did two catwalk shows for friends, family and invited guests.

Mark said it was great for him and the other men ‘to get out there as men and say “hey, you guys check as well, we can get it too”’. He said men are always urged to ‘check below’ but said ‘checking above’ is often overlooked despite how important it is.

Mark explained that he was diagnosed with breast cancer during the first lockdown of 2020. He said: “I had noticed previously that right under my left nipple it was quite hard but I sort of ignored it.”

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However, Mark noticed that ‘it felt completely different to the other side’ and this played on his mind until he decided to have a doctor look at it. After a basic examination, Mark was advised to get the lump checked with a scan and biopsy at Eastbourne District General Hospital, where it was confirmed that there were ‘some issues’ with it. He then went to the breast clinic at Conquest Hospital in Hastings where he was told he had breast cancer.

Mark said: “I went in there assuming it would be absolutely fine.” He said: “It was just such a shock because ‘blokes don't get it’. Men don’t have breasts in the term we understand it.”

Mark said that ‘from then on everything was quite quick’ and he had a full mastectomy of his left breast with some lymph nodes removed. This left him with ‘little or no feeling’ in his left arm. Then he had eight rounds of chemotherapy and 15 rounds of radiotherapy. He said his diagnosis was in mid 2020 and his operation was in August that year, followed by fortnightly chemotherapy sessions from October 2020 to January 2021. In February 2021 he started radiotherapy.

He said: “It was less than a year and I was very lucky because I found it very early.” He also praised the quality of medical treatment he received from all the staff involved.

Mark said he will not get the ‘full all-clear’ for another 18 months, following a series of yearly mamograms, and he is on Tamoxifen tablets until then too.

Breast Cancer Now is a charity that provides world-class research and care for people affected by breast cancer, while raising awareness about the signs and symptoms. Visit breastcancernow.org. They also research new ways to give people with secondary breast cancer more time. Mark said he found out about Breast Cancer Now’s fashion show after joining a a men’s breast cancer group called Men’s VMU. The fashion show is either for people living with breast cancer or those who are now looking back on their illness.