Diagnosed Stage 1 in 2007, Michael was plunged into a foreign world – Breast Cancer. Within a few months following his diagnosis Michael discovered that he was BRCA2 positive. What followed was a time of denial, fear and a struggle to reach that magical 5 year mark where he believed he would be cured of cancer.
But with a recurrence in 2010 of Stage 1, Michael hit the wall of reality and knew it was time to face this disease. Taking an early retirement from his elementary teaching career in June 2012, Michael explored a new path. That November he began to write about his journey as a man living with breast cancer. In June 2014 Michael self-published his book, Healing Within: My Journey with Breast Cancer. Contacted by the Male Breast Cancer Coalition, Michael shared his story along with other male survivors and began his advocacy by speaking to various groups in upstate New York where he lives, writing about his breast cancer experiences for the anticancerclub.com and periodically co-hosting their video program CancerBlab/ CancerTalk, and hosting his own radio program on dreamvisions7radio.com.
In September 2015, Michael learned that his cancer had spread. He was now part of a breast cancer community he knew little about – the Metastatic community. Michael’s advocacy grew to teach, inform and connect others to the needs and concerns of those living with MBC and educating women and men that not only do men get Breast Cancer, men get Metastatic Breast Cancer.
Michael’s participation in METAvivior’s October 2017 Stage IV Stampede in Washington, DC cemented a connection to this amazing organization and the many passionate individuals who make up this community. He joined the METAvivior Board in January 2018.
Michael lives with his partner, Tim, in Greenwich, NY. His life is filled with advocacy, gardening, reading, time with Tim, friends and family, snowshoeing, and peaceful walks with their dog, Polar, in the fields surrounding their old farmhouse.
