Male Breast Cancer Survivor

FALLS CHURCH, Va (WUSA) -- Each year nearly 17-hundred men are diagnosed with breast cancer and Walter Smith is one of them.

It was about 50-years ago when the acting bug bit Walter Smith. But family obligations meant getting a "real" job. After 40 years at GEICO. He retired in 2002. And as soon as the head shots were ready to go, Walter jumped back in front of the bright lights.

There was the HBO cable series John Adams, the movies Burn after Reading, Body of Lies and the new Angelina Jolie film SALT.

Walter Smith told us, "He has very little down time a lot of background work and a lot of extra work."

But the one role Walter never expected to play in real life was as a breast cancer patient. Not long after he was given a clean bill of health at his annual physical, he noticed what he called an anomaly.

"My right nipple was inverted I thought wait that doesn't look right and then the male defense mechanism kicked in. Well I think that's what happens when I get cold sometimes," Walter said.

But the next day there was still no change. So he goggled to find some answers and told his wife Joyce McCarten to take a look.
Walter said, "The second alert said be cautious it could be cancer that's the one I didn't want to read."

Both he and his wife were shocked when they found out it was cancer.

Like all cells of the body a man's breast duct cells can undergo cancerous changes, but breast cancer is about 100-times less common among men than women. Only 1% of men are diagnosed annually.

Walter had a radical mastectomy on his right breast, months of chemo and now a daily dose of Tamoxifen. Two years later he's feeling great, is busier than ever and enjoying living as a breast cancer survivor.

Walter tells us, "I'll tell any man out there at your annual physical, tell your GP to check your breast. It takes ten seconds and it could save your life."