Tyler Mane, the 6-foot-9 former professional wrestler who played Sabretooth in the original X-Men in 2000 and Ajax in Troy in 2004, posted a video on Instagram earlier this year revealing he has been diagnosed with Stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma, the most common form of breast cancer in men.
He is now in chemotherapy. He is 57 years old. His first instinct was to stay quiet about it. He is talking about it instead.
"I have some bad news. I start chemotherapy today," Mane said in the original post.
He called his case "super rare" and immediately pivoted to the reason he was going public:
"One in 750 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, and I'm one of them. Because it's rarely talked about, it's usually found at later stages and has worse outcomes. I want to change that."
His path to the diagnosis illustrates the awareness problem directly. He found a lump on his chest and was self-conscious about it, he has carried extra weight in his chest since high school and been teased about it.
His primary care physician "kind of dismissed it." Only because his wife insisted, and his brother had just died of a heart attack in the spring, did he push further. A dermatologist sent him to a surgeon. The lump was removed April 1.
The biopsy came back invasive ductal carcinoma. A PET scan and three lymph nodes removed from his armpit all came back clear, Stage 1.
Fewer than 1 percent of breast cancer diagnoses in the United States are in men. Roughly 2,670 men are expected to receive one in 2026. Most will not know to look for it.