Nine years ago this month, 50-year-old Stephen Sala, of Eagleville, Pa., received a diagnosis he never expected.

The healthy 41-year-old husband and father of three had discovered a lump in his right breast. When he visited his primary care physician, he was told it was most likely “just a cyst.”

Not satisfied with that answer, he pushed for further testing, including scans. A mammogram revealed HER2-positive cancer in both breasts.

“I was 100% in shock,” Sala said.

Many of his male friends were too. “I didn’t know that men get breast cancer,” they said.

Within a week, Sala underwent a double mastectomy. The cancer was caught early and only 10 years of the hormonal drug tamoxifen was necessary. BRCA genetic testing later came back negative.

Now, Sala is grateful to be in good health.

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