HE’S so full of energy and vitality it’s hard to believe he’s fighting a private battle every day.
His smile is infectious, his motto is “no bad days” and one of his goals is to brighten the lives of everyone he knows.
It’s a mindset that helps keep Zac Yar positive even on the darkest days – and there have been some dark days.
Zac was diagnosed with male breast cancer four years ago and is sharing his story with YOU during Breast Cancer Awareness Month to raise awareness of an illness regarded as “more of a woman’s disease”.
The first sign of trouble came when he was swimming with his two daughters, Ella and Georgia, at their home in Jacksonville, Florida, in the US.
His arm grazed across his chest and he felt a knot under his left nipple. “It was small, you know, probably half the size of a marble,” Zac tells us via video call. “I didn’t really think anything of it.”
He had a busy life as a photographer and videographer, traveling the world for work. The knot didn’t go away but Zac presumed it was a cyst. “But when I got off the road four months later it had grown to the size of a golf ball so I knew I had to get it checked out.”
His doctor sent him for a mammogram and he then had a biopsy – and the news wasn’t good. Zac had stage 4 invasive ductal carcinoma, the most common breast cancer in men.
He was stunned. “I’d never heard of male breast cancer and no one in my family had had cancer so it didn’t even cross my mind that I might have it.”
Denne historien er fra 2 November 2023-utgaven av YOU South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra 2 November 2023-utgaven av YOU South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
BALLON IN THE BAG
Manchester City midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante says his Ballon d'Or win is a victory for Spanish football
IT WAS ALL A LIE
A new doccie exposes the Grey's Anatomy writer who fabricated her life story
'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'
After her husband, anticorruption activist Alexei Navalny, was poisoned and murdered by the Kremlin, she became the public face of Russia's opposition. In this candid interview Yulia Navalnaya opens up about life on the run, her perilous family life and why she's continuing her husband's fight to save their country
AGREE TO DISAGREE
Trevor Noah on how his childhood squabbles with his mother inspired his delightful new book
PAUSE THE CLOCK
Researchers have discovered that the ageing process spikes at 44 and 60. Here's what you can do to slow it down
MPOOMY ON TOP
We chat to SA's most popular female podcaster about love, loss and her booming success
MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME
Tinus Drotské says his sibling, ex Bok Nǎka, is the victim in the brawl with a neighbour that landed up in court
MATT THE RECLUSE
A year after his friend's tragic death, the actor continues to shun the spotlight
A LEAP OF FAITH
After her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute she thought she'd never trust a man again-but now she's found love
THEY'RE MY KIDS!
This West Coast woman treats her monkeys as iftheyre humans and animal activists are not happy about it