On Tuesday night, a sad bit of news hit the Twitter timeline as Good Morning America promoted its Wednesday morning show.
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Mathew Knowles sat down with the show’s co-anchor, Michael Strahan, and revealed that he has breast cancer.
“I’m hoping by me coming here today, speaking out, letting folks know that you can survive this but it has to be early detection and I can’t overemphasize the word early,” Knowles stressed.
As you may know, Knowles is the father of popular singers Beyoncé Knowles Carter and Solange Knowles. In the interview, the 67-year-old music executive recalled the first time he suspected something was wrong.
“I noticed because I wear white T-shirts,” Knowles said. “I had a dot of blood on my T-shirt.” After initially brushing it off, he noticed more drops of blood. He saw them on the second and third day, then days went by without any discharge. However, on the fifth day, he saw another tiny drop, which alerted him to head to the doctor immediately.
According to 2019’s key statistics via the American Cancer Society:
About 2,670 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed
About 500 men will die from breast cancer
“Female breast cancer is very common—it happens in 1 in 8 women,” Dr. John Kiluk, a surgical oncologist who specializes in breast cancer in The Center for Women’s Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center told GMA. “Male breast cancer is rare—we have about 2,000 to 3,000 cases a year in the United States. … I think anyone who presents with any kind of strong family history really does warrant to consider doing genetic testing to figure out if there is a tie that we can explain what’s going on here.”
Along with stressing the importance of early detection, Knowles made a point to highlight the significance of men being transparent about breast cancer. Plus, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. One place where this reality is represented is ABC’s A Million Little Things, which includes a male character (portrayed by James Roday) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The show has also been noted for showcasing a black male character with depression.
To watch the full interview and read the transcript, head to goodmorningamerica.com.
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