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Daryl Monroe.
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Alice and Daryl Monroe.
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With her son and his friends posing for the photo, Alice created this poster and billboard to help raise awareness of breast cancer as a health risk for men.
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Members of the Grand Junction, Colo., SWAT team participate in a breast cancer walk in honor of Daryl Monroe.
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The 1939 Fairchild aircraft that CAP that Daryl Monroe restored with his wife's help.
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The Fairchild's instrument panel.
Jennifer S. Kornegay
Contributing Writer
This year alone, millions of Americans will be diagnosed with breast cancer -- but if you asked the average person how many of those people will be male, you’d probably get a confused look.
Even a quick Internet search of breast cancer statistics would have you believe that the disease exclusively affects women.
These are facts all too familiar to Alice Monroe of Grand Junction, Colo. Her husband, Daryl, was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago, at age 67. He died New Year’s Day.
“Nine out of 10 men have no idea that they could get breast cancer,” Alice Monroe said. “I’m trying to change that.”
After watching Daryl, a pilot and member of CAP’s Thunder Mountain Composite Squadron, fight breast cancer, Alice knew she was destined to help other men avoid the same fate.
“Daryl was paramedic and a medical captain for the fire department,” she said. “His whole life was committed to caring for other people. Now I want to use his legacy to continue to help others.
“I know that’s what he would want.”
By the time Daryl’s breast cancer was detected, he was Stage 4. “His mom had breast cancer, and I’m a registered nurse and know that men can get breast cancer, but even I wasn’t looking for it,” Alice said.
“Because many men aren’t even aware that they can have breast cancer, they are rarely diagnosed early, when treatment can be most effective.”
Adding to the problem, almost all breast cancer awareness programs focus on women — and use gratuitous amounts of pink to get the message across.
“When Daryl was going through treatment, there was pink everywhere, and there was no information relating to men and breast cancer,” Alice said.
She brought a blue flower to place in the middle of a pink bouquet at Daryl’s oncologist office, and then she decided to address the other issue — the lack of education and awareness targeting men.
“It’s so important that men understand that they can get breast cancer, too,” Alice said. “If men were checked for breast cancer routinely, particularly if they have other risk factors, they could be diagnosed early just like women. Many women are being cured today, while men with breast cancer are dying.”
To spread her message, Alice started with one of her sons, enlisting him and a few of his friends for a photo op. “I got them to ride to the top of one of the mountains here on their motorcycles and pose for a photo with their shirts off. I used the photo to make posters and a billboard that said, ‘Real Men Get Breast Cancer Too,’ and listed risk factors and early warning signs of breast cancer in men.”
Alice was paying the local billboard company in installments as she could -- until one day when they told her to stop. “They took on the rest of the cost themselves,” she said. “Then others started to pitch in. Our local Junior Service League chose to assist my efforts by giving us a grant and developing a Web site for the project.”
The local sheriff’s department SWAT team participated in a breast cancer relay in honor of Daryl while wearing T-shirts that read, “SWAT, Afraid of Nothing but Breast Cancer.”
Since beginning her awareness campaign, Alice said, she has heard from some men who have been diagnosed with breast cancer who instead claim they have prostate cancer. “Some men see it as questioning their manhood.”
