Man discovered harrowing health problems after friend twisted his nipple as a joke
A man has revealed how a tipsy nipple pinch from his mate during a boys' trip to Las Vegas ended up helping to save his life.
Robert Pfleghardt, 62, from Vienna, Virginia, was out drinking with friends in Las Vegas in 2021 when one of his mates reached over and pinched his nipple.
"It really hurt," Robert said, but he thought of it as nothing more than a bit of drunken messing around between friends.
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But about a week later, Robert was still rubbing his chest where it had hurt when he noticed a small lump.
"It was the size of an eraser and it was right next to my nipple," he said. "It was kind of weird but I just blew it off. Guys don't get breast cancer, so I thought nothing of it."
In fact, the lump was eventually diagnosed as breast cancer, and doctors discovered it had spread to one of his lymph nodes.
"Initially I laughed. You know, it's not funny, but a dude getting breast cancer," Robert said.
"Then I was like a deer in the headlights. I just went into zombie mode."
Robert, a retired accountant, had surgery to remove the lump before undergoing 29 days of radiation treatment.
He described the experience rather vividly, saying his chest went from ' normal colour to a crispy brown' after the radiation.
He was also put on medication to help prevent the cancer from returning.
The diagnosis came as a huge shock, particularly because Robert had never considered breast cancer something that could affect him.
"I probably weigh around 180, I’m not heavy, I don’t have man boobs or anything," he said.
Robert initially kept the diagnosis between himself and his wife because he didn't want to worry the rest of his family over Christmas.
Now, almost five years on from his diagnosis, he's preparing for a full-body scan on October 1 to check whether the cancer has spread any further.
He's feeling positive about the results, but says the experience has left him keen to make sure other men know that breast cancer isn't exclusively a women's health issue.
"I think a lot more men get breast cancer than they know and it spreads without them realising, and then they die from something else," he said.
"Because people don't know they can get it. And then they don't know what to look for."
And, rather remarkably, Robert and his friend still joke about the bizarre way the cancer was discovered.
"Me and my buddy joke about it now, you know, how we found it. But he saved my life," Robert said.
"I wouldn't have found the lump otherwise and it would have spread. Boys trips save lives."
Ali Condon