Beyoncé’s dad Mathew Knowles opens up about his breast cancer bout: ‘I want to save lives’

Mathew Knowles is encouraging men to get checked for breast cancer after beating the disease himself.

The 68-year-old father to Grammy Award-winning superstars Beyoncé and Solange Knowles opened up about his own battle, saying he was suspicious something was wrong after noticing a “small, recurring dot of blood” on his shirt.

A mammogram and biopsy confirmed that Knowles had breast cancer, the same disease he said claimed the lives of his mother, aunt and great aunt.

“I was in disbelief,” Knowles said in an interview with People magazine.

According to the American Cancer Society, male breast cancer is rare. In 2015, about 1% of new breast cancer cases were diagnosed in men.

Knowles said he’s lucky he caught his cancer early, when it was Stage 1A. He had a mastectomy, a procedure to remove breast tissue, but didn’t need chemotherapy.

While conducting tests from his surgery, doctors discovered that Knowles had the BRCA2 gene mutation, which increases the risk of breast cancer in both men and women, in addition to other types of cancer.

“All those years I’ve been in diagnostic imaging, I had never heard the word BRCA before,” said Knowles, who sold medical equipment before turning to music. “If I had known about the BRCA gene, I would’ve had a double mastectomy.”

Knowles is using his testimony to raise awareness for male breast cancer, which he has dubbed “chest cancer.” He’s also promoting genetic testing to screen for the BRCA2 gene mutation.

“A whole lot has to change in the education of men about breast cancer,” he told People. “I want to save lives, especially in the Black community.”

The American Cancer Society says, “Black men with breast cancer tend to have a worse prognosis,” similar to Black women.

The health organization predicts that 2,620 new cases of invasive breast cancer in men will be diagnosed this year, resulting in more than 500 deaths.

“If you’re ahead of the curve, then your outcome will be, most of the time, great,” Knowles said. “I’m a living example.”