A playful nipple pinch during a Las Vegas getaway led to an unexpected and frightening discovery for one man.
Robert Pfleghardt, 62, noticed a lump in his chest after a friend twisted his nipple during a boys’ trip to Sin City.
Pfleghardt, who is from Virginia, said the joking incident ultimately led to a breast cancer diagnosis, SWNS reported.
He recalled first realizing something might be wrong during the 2021 trip. “They are good friends of mine and we were being silly boys having drinks,” he said.
“He’d probably say I started it, but my friend reached over to me and gave me a ‘t**ty twister’—where he pinched my nipple. It really hurt.”
The discomfort lingered after Pfleghardt returned home. About a week later, he discovered a small lump in his chest. “It was the size of an eraser and it was right next to my nipple,” he said.
Although he thought the lump was “kind of weird,” Pfleghardt initially dismissed it because he believed men did not develop breast cancer.
Robert Pfleghardt, 62, discovered an uncomfortable lump in his chest after a friend twisted his nipple during a boys’ trip to Las Vegas
He did not initially suspect a serious problem but sought medical advice after the discomfort continued for more than a week following the vacation
A nurse practitioner recommended additional testing, and Pfleghardt soon learned that he had breast cancer
Men are diagnosed with breast cancer far less often than women, but the National Breast Cancer Foundation says they face a mortality rate 19 percent higher than women.
Lower awareness among men is a major factor. Many may not recognize a breast lump as a possible cancer warning sign, which can delay diagnosis and treatment.
As the accountant and entrepreneur continued thinking about the lump, he made an appointment with a nurse practitioner, who urged him to undergo further testing.
“She says it’s something we need to aggressively research,” Pfleghardt recalled. After that, he said, “things moved really, really quickly.”
He underwent a mammogram, a low-dose X-ray used to identify early signs of breast cancer. “It was really weird getting a mammogram—you kind of laugh,” he said.
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“They called out for Mrs. Pfleghardt instead of Mr. Pfleghardt.”
The examination ended with an employee telling Pfleghardt that the lump appeared to be cancerous. Doctors were also concerned that the disease might have reached his lymph nodes.
“I was like a deer in the headlights. I just went into zombie mode.”
According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, men have a 19 percent higher breast cancer mortality rate than women
The 62-year-old said he was fortunate because doctors found a single mass that had not spread “like a spider web”
More tests proved that the cancer did grow up to one lymph node, after which doctors reportedly recommended double mastectomy and the removal of 19 lymph nodes.
Pfleghardt said he was so scared of the surgery, he had a lumpectomy instead, which removes less tissue. He underwent surgery in late January 2022.
‘I was extremely nervous and scared to be cut open,’ he told SWNS. ‘But within a day or two I was out and about doing stuff.’
He added that his doctors ‘felt that the lumpectomy had really clear lines – it was just one mass – not like a spider web, which was a good sign.’
After the surgery, Pfleghardt had 29 days of radiation treatment – an experience he described as ‘interesting’ and recalled: ‘It literally looked like it cooked me. My chest where the radiation went, it went from a normal color to a crispy brown.’
The accountant and entrepreneur now wants more people to be aware of male breast cancer
Five years later, Pfleghardt had another body scan on October 1, ahead of which he felt positive.
Looking back, he said he wants more people to be aware because ‘a lot more men get breast cancer than we realize.
‘Me and my friends still laugh about how we found out I had cancer,’ he told SWNS. ‘My friend that pinched me saved my life. I wouldn’t have found the lump otherwise and it would have spread,’ Pfleghardt said. ‘Boys trips save lives.’
