Male breast cancer: Luton intensive care nurse shares his story after cancer diagnosis

An intensive care nurse who led a team that saved the lives of dozens of Covid patients has described his shock at learning he had developed male breast cancer during the pandemic.

Kizi Kamasho, 52, from Luton, worked throughout the outbreak without taking a single sick day unaware that a cancerous tumour was growing in his breast and was spreading to his lymph nodes, lungs and bones.

When he and wife Emma discovered he had metastatic cancer, they assumed his prognosis was poor. But thanks in part to the drug Herceptin that Cancer Research UK helped to develop, the father-of-one is now positive about the future and is urging people to give regularly to help fund long-term research projects that could drive new breakthroughs.

By sharing his story during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Kizi hopes to inspire others to play a part in the fight against the disease.

Unaware that he should check his breasts for changes, it was Emma, 47, who initially found a lump.

Emma said: “We were sat watching something funny on TV and as I laughed, I patted Kizi’s chest and felt something hard under his breast. I asked if he’d been working out and because I’m also a nurse, I examined him. I felt the hard lump and I said we needed to get it checked with the doctor.”

Kizi was referred to a breast cancer clinic at his local hospital.

Emma added: “When we walked in they told Kizi he couldn’t stay with me. They thought I was the patient not him. When they realised he was the one waiting to be scanned I was told to go and had to leave him sitting alone in a waiting room full of women with signs that said ‘no males beyond this point.

“After an hour I received a call from Kizi and he was crying saying, ‘You need to come back.’ I was allowed back in and he’d been told it was very likely that he had male breast cancer.”

Kizi said: “When you hear you have cancer it’s like you’re not there and they’re talking to someone else. You hear it but your mind just drifts away and it’s like an echo. You grasp some words but others are like a blur and then more start trickling in. You hear a lot about women needing to check their breasts but now I know that men need to check themselves too.”

Only 380 men are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year compared to 55,500 women.

The couple, who have been married for 25 years, were given a glimmer of hope. Tests revealed Kizi’s breast cancer showed high levels of a protein called HER2 receptor which meant his cancer could potentially be controlled by a targeted treatment called Herceptin. He’s been receiving it alongside chemotherapy and so far doctors are thrilled with the results.

Kizi said: “I’m still in treatment but things are looking promising and it looks like there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

As well as feeling boosted by his latest scans and the unwavering support from his wife and son Tendai, 25, Kizi says he couldn’t have got through the past few months without his canine companion, Juno.

Kizi said: “Research has had a massive impact on my treatment, it’s life-saving and we have to make sure that it can carry on. The most important part of cancer treatment is research and finding new ways and new drugs to treat the disease.”

Thanks to the generosity of its supporters, Cancer Research UK was able to spend over £51 million in the East of England last year on some of the UK’s leading scientific and clinical research.