(CNN) — A year after beating breast cancer, Peter Criss, a founding member of the rock band KISS, calls himself “the luckiest man in the planet.”
Peter Criss, now 63, said getting medical treatment early at the first sign of trouble saved his life.

Peter Criss, now 63, said getting medical treatment early at the first sign of trouble saved his life.
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While some men feel embarrassed because of “this macho crap,” Criss said surviving breast cancer — yes, men get it, too — was actually a blessing. He was treated before the tumor could spread and said he’s speaking about male breast cancer now — during National Breast Cancer Awareness month — to raise the profile of this rare disease.

Criss, who played drums for KISS and was known as “Catman,” offered this advice to men who spot lumps in their breast: “Don’t sit around playing Mr. Tough Guy. Don’t say ‘It’s going to go away.’ It might not and you might not see life anymore and how beautiful that is.”

The 63-year-old musician is now cancer free.

Like many others, Criss wasn’t aware men could get breast cancer.

“Even though we don’t think of men as having breasts, they have breast tissue and are susceptible to getting breast cancer,” said Dr. Sharon Giordano, an associate professor of medicine in the department of breast medical oncology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She is not involved in Criss’ care.
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“All men have some residual degree of breast tissue behind the nipples. It may be very small, but just like any part of the body can get cancer, that part of the body can get cancer,” she said.

Male cases are rarer than female breast cancer, making up less than 1 percent of total cases.

According to the National Cancer Institute, in 2009 an estimated 192,370 women in the United States are expected to receive a diagnosis of breast cancer and about 40,170 are expected to die of the disease. Among men, there will be an estimated 1,910 new cases and 440 deaths.

“So many people must die from this,” Criss said. “Somebody has to step up to the plate and say something to get them aware of how dangerous this is. Lots of men die: They wait, they don’t go in, they put it off.”

Criss joins a small group of men who have spoken publicly about having breast cancer. Several years ago, Richard Roundtree, the actor who played the title role in the 1970s “Shaft” films, revealed he had breast cancer.

Experts say men tend to get a diagnosis at a later stage than women, because they don’t believe they can get breast cancer, and don’t get routine mammograms or breast exams.

Breast cancer is “actually easier to find in men for obvious reasons. They develop an asymmetrical lump in their breast,” said Dr. Stanley Waintraub, co-chief of The John Theurer Cancer Center’s division of breast oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. Men may ignore symptoms, such as lumps, pain in the breast or discharge from the nipples.

“A man has to know, if he has enlarged breasts, a lump, a discharge, just because he’s a man, he is not immune to breast cancer,” Waintraub said.

When Criss spotted a painful lump in his left breast after a workout in 2007, he didn’t wait.

“I go to the gym; I’ve been drumming since I was a kid. So I’m very aware of my body,” he said. “So when this happened I said, ‘Jesus, what’s this thing?’ ”

After consulting with his wife, who was battling a different type of cancer at the time, he sought medical attention. Criss had surgery in February 2008 to remove what the doctors thought was a harmless nodule. Later, he learned the nodule was actually breast cancer.

“I flipped out. I just couldn’t believe it. It’s a nightmare,” he recalled. “I was angry at everything. I couldn’t believe I had this. I was a really angry guy for a long time.”

Doctors removed the cancer in a March 2008 surgery. Because the cancer had been caught early, Criss did not need breast reconstruction or chemotherapy.

The operation left no scars, so his doctor joked that Criss could still take his shirt off to play the drums. Criss responded with a laugh, “I’m in my 60s. Those days are over.”
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Criss sang lead vocal and co-wrote one of KISS’ most famous songs, “Beth.” He left the band in 1980. He rejoined the band for a reunion tour in the mid-1990s and stayed on, eventually leaving again in 2004.

He still plays the drums, and has started working on a record and an autobiography.

For men, “because of the lack of awareness, it can be stigmatizing to feel like they have a female disease when they’re a man,” Giordano said.

In the sea of pink ribbons, men who have breast cancer may feel isolated. To build a network among them, the John W. Nick Foundation started connecting male breast cancer survivors in 1996.

“They talk with one another,” said the founder, Nancy Nick, whose father died of the disease. “It’s the greatest thing for healing. They learn they’re not alone. Second, they learn about protocol and treatment. They can compare their treatments and the care their doctor is giving them.”

Criss credits his wife and his Catholic faith for pulling him through the difficult times.

Every year, he gets a mammogram; he had his checkup two weeks ago. “I left smiling like a Cheshire cat. Now, I’m coming around, I’m just so grateful,” he said.

The causes of breast cancer remain unknown. But like women, men’s risk of breast cancer increases if they inherit BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations.
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Criss said he learned that breast cancer ran in his family, so he called his sisters, nieces, daughter and even his brother about possible risks.

“It’s just important — just go get checked out,” said Criss. “It’s not like you’re going to lose your manhood.”

President Barack Obama

susan –

This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I’d been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it’s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

That is why I’ve said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won’t all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it’s recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.

This award — and the call to action that comes with it — does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.

So today we humbly recommit to the important work that we’ve begun together. I’m grateful that you’ve stood with me thus far, and I’m honored to continue our vital work in the years to come.

Thank you,

By Hamid Dabashi

Editor’s note: Hamid Dabashi is the author of “Iran: A People Interrupted.” He is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York. His Web site is http://www.hamiddabashi.com/.
Hamid Dabashi says Obama’s advocacy of nuclear disarmament makes him worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Hamid Dabashi says Obama’s advocacy of nuclear disarmament makes him worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.

NEW YORK (CNN) — President Obama woke up today with the once-in-a-lifetime news that he won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The joy and pride of this early morning news must have matched, if not surpassed, that other piece of news he received the evening of November 4, 2009, when he won the presidency of the United States.

He won the presidency by hard work, tenacity and above all an exceptional oratorical gift to share the expansive vision he had for a deeply troubled country that was much maligned on the world scene.

His mere election, and the joyous euphoria it generated among millions of his supporters, was a delivery of Americans from eight troubled years in which they could hardly recognize themselves in their own country. Now he wins this singular honor for sharing that very liberating vision for an equally troubled and even more maligned world.

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” the Norwegian committee said in its statement announcing the prize.
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Paramount in the committee’s decision has been the president’s commitment to diplomacy over warfare, and even more significantly a daring and imaginative idea to rid the world of the ultimate terror with which humanity has lived since Hiroshima.

There were reports that when the president was about to deliver his historic speech at the United Nations on nuclear disarmament, the news of a new Iranian uranium enrichment plant reached him and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of England.

There were also reports that his European counterparts wanted him to make the urgent announcement of that discovery before he gave his U.N. speech, but that he insisted he wanted to give his speech first. This is the difference between two ordinary politicians and a visionary statesman: Chart a path of hope before you signal a note of despair.

Nothing is more urgent for the world than a global nuclear disarmament as a grand strategy, while no other country is allowed to develop the catastrophic weapon. We have so deeply internalized and repressed the fear of a nuclear annihilation that we no longer realize what a nightmare hangs over our fragile life on an even more brittle earth.

That Obama has given it a singular priority in his administration points both to the urgency of the matter and the historic opportunity he has to accomplish it. Like all other visionaries, dreamers of the impossible, he is taken for a fool by his detractors. But the youthful euphoria that welcomed him into the White House and promised him this prize means he is on the right and the winning side of history.

The most urgent challenge that faces the president precisely in realizing this vision is the nuclear ambition of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the president now has a counterpart in Iran infinitely more important than any president or leader.

Shirin Ebadi won precisely the same prize in 2003. As an Iranian, a woman, a Muslim and a brave and untiring human rights activist, Ebadi will have much to tell her fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner (in Oslo, Tehran or Washington) about Iran that will give insight into the recent hopeful signs of rapprochement between the two nations that could signal a fundamental commitment to the sanctity of our fragile humanity.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Hamid Dabashi.