Dad’s suffered from skin cancer for years, but it was never an ‘issue’. He’s fair skinned, and of course living in Venezuela he’s been exposed to a lot of sun. Not using sunscreen didn’t help either. Anyway, his little cancer blotches have been cauterized when needed, and they’ve been random here and there. No therapies (chemo, radiation, etc.) of any kind were ever needed. But it’s a reality. Dad’s had skin cancer multiple times.

The real surprise came in 2006, when he noticed that what had been a tiny spec of nothing on his left nipple had become a few short months later a lump (the size of a huge grape, as we found later). I was actually with him at the Dr’s office when he had it removed, and after it was sent in for a biopsy we were shocked to find it was malignant. Dad had breast cancer. And that was the tumor which had been entirely removed. We were dumbfounded, shocked and really confused. Doesn’t breast cancer affect well, women? It turns out it is very rare in men, but it can happen, and it did. Long story short, Dad traveled to the US for one operation to check if the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes (it didn’t, so great!) and had a mastectomy of his left breast. He didn’t need any further treatment and has been fine ever since. I can happily report he’s also loving and living life, healthy and enjoying being a Grandpa.