A shock breast cancer diagnosis, intensive treatment and a subsequent positive road to recovery, has inspired a former joiner to set up a support service for men in Scotland suffering from the same rare condition.
Only 1% of the 57-59,000 people diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK are men. Forth Valley College Work Based Assessor Paul Steele (44) was shocked when a consultant at the Gartnavel Breast Cancer Clinic in Glasgow confirmed he was suffering from the potentially life threatening disease, back in March 2025.
After a mastectomy on his left side in early April last year, 16 weeks of chemotherapy, 15 sessions of radiotherapy and the start of a cocktail of anti-cancer drugs – which he has to take for the next five years – Paul is thankfully now in remission, but he is now on a mission to help other men who find themselves on a similar journey living with breast cancer.
He has set up Male Breast Cancer Support – Support for Men Diagnosed with Male Breast Cancer | Male Breast Cancer Support a voluntary service in Scotland initially – to offer emotional support and counselling to men who need advice and someone to talk to.
Paul, from Springboig, Glasgow, said: “I remember the consultant sitting down next to me, putting her hand on my knee to comfort me and saying ‘Paul you have breast cancer’ and I said…but guys don’t get breast cancer! Then the biopsy and a hastily arranged CT scan confirmed it was stage three breast cancer.
Fortunately it hadn’t spread throughout my body and only three or four of my lymph nodes were affected.
“I was very, very lucky and if I had left it any longer before going to my GP with the symptoms, it all could have been so much different.”
Nine months previously in the summer of 2024, Paul had noticed a lump on the left hand side of his chest. His nipple started to change shape and crack. Treating the irritation with Sudocream, he didn’t think twice that it could be cancer.
He went on: “Like a lot of men, I just got on with things and ignored important symptoms when I should have got checked out. I hadn’t been to see my GP for about 15 years. I eventually took the advice of my partner Catey and my step-daughter Carson and went to see her.
“She seemed to know instantly that something was wrong when I took my top off and she referred me for tests immediately and that led to confirmation of male breast cancer.
“I tried to remain upbeat but receiving a cancer diagnosis of any sort is very frightening and you need a support network to help you through.
“Luckily the support of my partner, step-daughter, family, friends and work colleagues was absolutely brilliant and I can’t thank them all enough for everything they have done for me over the past 10 months.
“Understandably, most of the support for breast cancer sufferers is geared towards women. There are very few places for men to go to find advice and help on this area.
The Maggies Charity were great with me and I attended a few sessions, but even though I was OK with being the only man attending, I didn’t want the women there to be impacted, or to feel uncomfortable with me being there.
“That was why from early on in this journey – and with great encouragement of my partner Catey – I have been determined that if and when I came out the other side, I would like to offer as much support as I can to other men in the same situation – around 400 men in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer each year - and that is why I have set up this new service.”
After leaving school Paul became an apprentice joiner and worked for several large building firms, becoming a site foreman and even working for himself in a trade he still loves. He found a passion in his career as a mentor and loved to take young apprentices under his wing while earning a living.
That was one of the reasons why he applied to become a Work Based Assessor at Forth Valley College, starting work at the College in August 2022.
Paul continued: “Everyone at the College has been brilliant with me from the moment they discovered I had cancer. My colleagues in the Department of Apprenticeships, Skills and Commercial, my line manager Billy Grierson and Head of Department Zak Stark, the HR Department and the senior management were great.
“A plan was put in place and they made sure they checked in regularly with me to see how I was at least once a week. They have also all helped me on my phased return to work from the end of November last year. They have tried to make it as stress free as possible and if I am fatigued or not feeling great due to my weakened immune system – which I can be regularly because of my condition – and I need a 20 minute rest to recharge a wee bit, then it is no problem.
“I am humbled by all this support and I love giving something back. I look after around 33 Modern Apprentice joiners and I get great satisfaction in helping them become qualified tradesmen and women. I also have signed up to the MCR Pathways programme to become a mentor for young people, I mentor new employees who come and work for the College and I also help school pupils who are transitioning from school to College.
“I am a mental health first aider and I have signed up for an Introduction to Counselling course, so that when I take calls from men worried about their breast cancer diagnosis, not only can I offer them emotional support from someone who has been there, but I can give them the best guidance on what to do next, especially from a mental health perspective.
“Despite all the support I had, when I was diagnosed and during my treatment, I still felt isolation, embarrassment and awkwardness, but at my lowest point I was still inspired to want to help men in a similar situation. Sitting at a session surrounded by pink ribbons and brave, inspiring women, I still wished I could have talked to a man about what I was going through, as I know that would have made me feel better. This is what my new service aims to do and this is what I want to do in my spare time.”
Zak Stark, FVC’s Head of Commercial Training and Delivery, said: ““Paul is a real inspiration to everyone at Forth Valley College. Even after receiving such a frightening diagnosis, his first instinct was to think about the impact on others rather than himself.
“Throughout his treatment, Paul has remained committed to his apprentices and stayed in close contact with his line manager, Billy, because he genuinely cares about their progress and wellbeing. As soon as he was able, he was back providing direct support.
“The fact that Paul chose not to attend certain support sessions, not because he didn’t need help, but because he was concerned about making others uncomfortable, perfectly reflects his thoughtful and selfless character.
“To turn such a challenging and distressing period into something so positive, by creating a service to support other men facing breast cancer, is typical of Paul’s caring and supportive outlook. We are incredibly proud of him and fully support his work.”
Paul added: “My last session of treatment was on 5 November 2025 – bonfire night. And despite the fact I will need to take a combination of cancer drugs for the next five years before I find out if I am cancer free, I am in remission. That night me and my family put a chimera out in our back garden, started a fire with some logs and I burned all my cancer appointment letters in my own wee version of cancer survivor’s ringing the bell when they leave hospital.
“Receiving a cancer diagnosis changes you and I now have desire to help other men in Scotland who are suffering from breast cancer.”
The Male Breast Cancer Support website is set to launch officially on Friday 6 February. Anyone looking for support are asked to call 0330 133 5516 and leave a message for Paul to call them back between 6-7pm each evening.
MBCS www.mbcsupport.org.uk is registered with the Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector and has two trustees in place and Paul has ambitions for the service to transition into a registered charity. He still has operating costs and he has started up a GoFundme page https://gofund.me/8b64af20d to help raise funds, and he says any donations would be very welcome.
For more information on symptoms of breast cancer visit
Breast cancer in men | Breast cancer | Cancer Research UK
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