Joe Villarreal

As a deputy for Bexar County for 32 years and a Navy Veteran with over 20 years of service, Joe Villarreal says he had never been seriously ill before his diagnosis. 

So, when he found a lump in his left armpit, he wasn’t too concerned. But in August 2021, he went to his doctor after the lump hadn’t gone away.

The doctor ordered a scan and biopsy for safety reasons and ultimately found three small cancerous tumors on the side of his left nipple. He started chemotherapy to treat the tumors, but with HER2-positive estrogen cancer, the chemotherapy wasn’t working.   

Surgery was recommended as the next step in his treatment, and a Methodist Hospital Metropolitan breast cancer surgeon performed a mastectomy, removing the tumors and cancerous lymph nodes. After surgery, he was treated with radiation. Now, he is in remission and taking oral medications.

“I had a great experience with my oncologist, Dr. Raul Portillo, and everyone at the clinic was nice and very supportive,” Joe said. Debbie Williams, a Bluebird Auxiliary volunteer who is 11 years cancer free, provided much-appreciated support, calling and checking on Joe regularly. “Debbie is good at what she does,” he added.

“I am doing well, taking my meds and feeling blessed that I wake up every day,” said Joe, 73. “I never gave breast cancer a thought.” His father and two brothers died of prostate cancer, and his mother died from cancer as well. “I always expected to get some kind of cancer, but I thought it would be prostate cancer, so I wasn’t being screened for breast cancer,” he said.

He said that breast cancer in men is not talked about enough. “It needs to be brought more to light,” he said. “Statistics show that it’s rare, but it takes a back seat to breast cancer in women. For men, there’s not much education about it or the symptoms. Hispanic men especially don’t want to admit they could have breast cancer; they are embarrassed.”

Joe said his wife and friends have been very supportive, and he is willing to talk with other men diagnosed with breast cancer. “You may not be happy to share your breast cancer diagnosis with others, but it doesn’t help when you don’t talk about it,” he said.

The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2022 about 530 men will die from breast cancer. Among the risk factors are aging, a family history of breast cancer, inherited gene mutations, alcohol, and obesity.

For more information about cancer support visit Methodist Healthcare.