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Bill Riegert Knows Breast Cancer Isn't Just For Women

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Bill Riegert is on a mission to let men know they're not immune to it.

"It wasn't really a lump -- it was more like a pimple," he said.

A small bump on Riegert's chest concerned his wife more than him, and she eventually encouraged him to get it checked out.

"My local doctor said it was nothing," Riegert said.

Riegert went back to get a second opinion, and was told again it was nothing. Breast cancer is about 100 times less common among men than among women. For men, the lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000.

But his wife, Luann, was persistent. She insisted that he go with her to her doctor's appointment.

"She was having a breast exam and she came out with a nurse and said, 'Would you talk to my husband about this?'" Riegert said.

Another test and Riegert learned he had breast cancer.

"I'm sure that if I had let it go longer, it would have been all over my body," Riegert said.

Riegert was lucky that it was caught early and that his risk of reoccurrence is low.

That's why he'll will take part in this weekend's educational conference "Living With Breast Cancer." It's the 12th year for the conference designed to educate people about breast cancer in a very non-threatening environment.

The Breast Cancer Awareness Education Conference is Saturday at the Minneapolis Convention Center, beginning at 8 a.m.

For more, click here.

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