Mathew Knowles Explains How He Discovered He Had Breast Cancer, Says Kids & Grandkids Have Been Tested & He Will Have 2nd Breast Removed

Matthew Knowles

Mathew Knowles Explains How He Discovered He Had Breast Cancer, Says Kids & Grandkids Have Been Tested & He Will Have 2nd Breast Removed

Prayers are going out for Mathew Knowles as he revealed his recent battle with breast cancer. He sat down with Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan and opened up about his diagnosis, just in time for October’s Breast Cancer Awareness month.

“I also am a survivor of breast cancer.”

Knowles, who is the father of singers Beyonce and Solange, opened up about his health status and revealed how he discovered he had the disease.

Solange & Mathew Knowles

Mathew Knowles & Beyonce

He said he noticed after seeing a dot of blood on his shirt two months ago, and his wife, Gena Avery, said she noticed a dot of blood on the sheets as well.

“So I immediately went to my doctor, I got a mammogram, and then it was very clear that I had breast cancer.”

He said,

“Of all the things I could get, why would I get this? From a man’s perspective, I thought ‘Why me?’ I have the BRCA2, which is mutated, which means I have four things to be concerned about: prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, melanoma, and breast cancer. The rest of my life I have to be very much aware and conscious, and do all of the early detection… constant mammograms, constant prostate exams, constant MRIs for the rest of my life.”

He said now, he’s, fortunately, doing really well.

“I had my surgery the last week of July. And now I’m doing all the steps for recovery.”

As for how his family is coping, he revealed,

“The first call was to my family because this is genetic. It also means that my kids have a higher chance, a higher risk, even my grandkids have a higher risk. And they handled it like they should. They went and got the test.”

He said the diagnosis has also changed certain habits in his life as he’s stopped drinking alcohol and exercises more and urged men to come forward and get tested themselves.

“You can survive this, but it has to be early detection, and I can’t over emphasize the word early.”

He also revealed in a written account of his experience that he will be getting his second breast removed in January. Knowles also added,

“I am going to get the second breast removed in January, because I want to do anything I can to reduce the risk. We use the words “cancer-free,” but medically there’s no such thing as “cancer-free.” There’s always a risk. My risk of a recurrence of breast cancer is less than 5%, and the removal of the other breast reduces it down to about 2%.”

“My kids have a 50% [chance of inheriting the BRCA gene mutation.] That’s male or female. We used to think this was only an issue for women, but this is male or female.”

He said he wants to continue to use his platform to stress the importance of early detection as well as how vital it is for men to take breast cancer seriously.

“I need men to speak out if they’ve had breast cancer. I need them to let people know they have the disease, so we can get correct numbers and better research. The occurrence in men is 1 in 1,000 only because we have no research.”

See Knowles’s full open essay here.

Let’s all pray for Mathew Knowles’s full recovery!