NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Mathew Knowles, the father of R&B icon Beyoncé, revealed that he’s battling breast cancer.
Knowles told Good Morning America on Wednesday that he had undergone a unilateral mastectomy, a surgical procedure that includes the removal of all breast tissue, in July, and plans to have his second breast removed early next year.
He also used the opportunity to raise awareness about how the disease can affect me. While relatively rare, breast cancer affects about 1 in 833 over a lifetime, and there will be about 2,670 new cases diagnosed in men this year, according to the American Cancer Society.
“I need men to speak out if they’ve had breast cancer,” Knowles told ‘Good Morning America’ on Wednesday. “I need them to let people know they have the disease, so we can get correct numbers and better research. Men want to keep it hidden because we feel embarrassed — and there’s no reason for that.”
