News Archive October 2010

Former KISS Drummer And Massachusetts Marine Raise Male Breast Cancer Awareness
From: Examiner.com
by Susy Raybon
Posted: October 8, 2010

Peter Criss, who pounded out a beat for the hard rock band KISS in the 70s, is drumming home a new message: Men get breast cancer, too.

Diagnosed in 2008, Criss age 64, says he is now cancer free but wants to spread the word that while breast cancer is relatively rare for men, it happens. Left undetected and untreated it can be deadly.

His story strikes a chord with more than 60 men, either Marines, or sons of Marines, who where stationed at Camp Lejeune in the 60s, 70s and 80s who have also been diagnosed with breast cancer within the last couple of years.

The Marines blame toxins in the water from wells in and around Camp Lejeune during the time they were based there.

The water was identified in the 1980s as highly contaminated with solvents.

From all accounts, the Marines, and sons of Marines, who have been diagnosed with breast cancer only have one thing in common; they all drank the water at Camp Lejeune.

Peter Devereaux, 48, of North Andover, Massachusetts, is one of those Marines. He, too, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. Today he is only 48 and after 14 months of treatment and a mastectomy, is cancer free.

As one might guess, Peter Criss was never a Marine so the cause of his breast cancer cannot be linked to Camp Lejeune.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and both Criss and Devereaux have fundraisers for the cause: www.petercriss.net has raised more than $100,000 for an October 17th fund-raising walk in Pont Pleasant Beach, New Jersey and Devereaux is selling calendars for Art BeCause, an organization whose mission is to look at the environment and breast cancer. Contact artbecause.org for more information on ordering a calendar that chronicles some of the Marines who have been affected by breast cancer.

Examiner's Note: Men account for only 1 percent of all breast cancer cases. Approximately 2,000 men develop breast cancer every year and 440 die from it according to the National Cancer Institute. Breast cancer in men tends to occur later in life.