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29 T M C » P U L S E | J U N E 2 0 1 8 License to... Adaptive Driving Access has one of the largest selections of lifts and mobility equipment in Texas. ADA offers only the highest quality products available in our industry. We have what you need to help get you on your way, because your mobility is our mission. • Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles • New & Certified Pre-owned Inventory • Adaptive Mobility Products • Scooter Lifts • 24/7 Emergency Assistance • Maintenance & Repair Service Call for details! PASADENA | HOUSTON | CORPUS CHRISTI | MCALLEN | COLLEGE STATION ADAPTIVEDRIVING.COM Because male breast cancer is considered an "orphan" disease due to its rarity, there's a paucity of research dedicated to it. Most treatments for male breast cancer are derived from what is already known about breast cancer treatment for women, but illuminating gender-based simi- larities and differences will lead to better, more effective therapies. In partnership with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer, Giordano and other researchers are part of an international effort to create a consortium of investigators from institutions around the world to study the biology and potential treatment options for male breast cancer. "In the past, most of the research [involved] one institution writing up their experience of 15 patients. There weren't big enough numbers to make meaningful conclusions," Giordano said. "Through this, we first were able to get tissue specimens for all the men who had come through these institutions in the past 20 years." Giordano and the consortium hoped to enroll at least 100 patients for the research initiative, but within a year and a half of launching the study, they received 250 patients and about 1,500 tissue specimens for male breast cancer cases, allowing them an ample sample size to study. "To us, this meant that it might actually be possible to do treatment studies in male breast cancer," she said. "It is exciting." Giordano and fellow investigators hope to launch a research project to study the efficacy of targeting the androgen receptor for male breast cancer. Although a majority of male breast cancers are estrogen receptor-positive, a growing body of research shows that most male breast cancers also have androgen receptors that may cause cancer cells to grow. Thus, endocrine agents that block the androgen receptor could potentially work well in men with breast cancer, Giordano said. "There's a lot of interest in [male breast cancer], and I think there's a collective will to get things done," Giordano said. "We're hopeful that, working all together, we'll be able to move the field forward and really make some advances for men with breast cancer." Live your life As Lauve was completing his five-year regimen of tamoxifen, personal tragedy struck. In November 2014, he was diagnosed with cancer again—this time, with thyroid cancer—and on June 25, 2017, his second wife passed away from ovarian cancer. Yet he maintained his optimism. "You've still got to live your life and go on with it. After two cancers and losing two wives, I don't have any other approach to life other than take it every day, be happy, be positive and do for people what you can do for them," Lauve said. "Thank the Lord you're still here and eat healthy when you can. Pig out when you want to every now and then." Today, Lauve is off the tamoxifen and enjoying life as a cancer survivor. He said he "wears pink a whole lot more than I ever did before" to show his ongoing support for breast cancer research and his fellow breast patients, both men and women. He even participates in MD Anderson's annual breast cancer fashion show and wears his usual outfit: a tuxedo decked out with a pink vest, a pink tie, a pink ribbon and his black and white shoes. "I'm out there to tell the world to see me," Lauve said. "They need to see the pink on a man." A lot of the [male] patients aren't even aware that they could get breast cancer, or they don't think of themselves as having breasts. That often can lead to delays in diagnosis and treatment, because they're not aware that it's even a possibility. — SHARON GIORDANO, M.D.