The Hat Project: Carmichael family raises awareness for male breast cancer in Men's Health Week after Rhod Carmichael passed away

A couple of weeks later he was diagnosed and in surgery to have breast tissue and lymph nodes removed, before he started a long road of chemotherapy and an even bigger collection of hats.

Sadly, Mr Carmichael lost his battle with breast cancer in April this year.

Not even chemotherapy could dull his sense of humour, every Thursday he would put on a funny hat and head into treatment. Soon, The Hat Project was born.

Championed now by his family and daughter Alice, The Hat Project has teamed up with the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) for Men's Health Week to bring much-needed attention to male breast cancer.

"Dad would always wear a hat for his treatment to bring some hope and humour about," Ms Carmichael said, who's now a community ambassador for the NBCF.

"The project itself started with mum getting everyone together when dad got diagnosed, she said she had some news and asked everyone to wear a hat and everyone rocked up in silly hats.

"It just kind of happened."

Mr Carmichael would look forward to photos of his friends and family in their own funny hats while he had chemotherapy.

He was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, after he experienced some pain in his chest. At the time he thought the lump was nothing sinister.

It's a common theme in men's breast cancer, with limited resources available despite the one in 675 men who are diagnosed in their lifetime.

So as part of The Hat Project, Ms Carmichael is fighting to have some blue added to the famous pink ribbon for breast cancer, to show men that breast cancer doesn't discriminate.

"Chemotherapy isn't a pleasant experience with all the ups and downs and different drugs but dad never complained, he was always so strong and had a smile on his face or a sarcastic comment, he was a true character that everyone loved," she said.

"In October last year I became frustrated that there were no posts anywhere about men's breast cancer, we did all this research and there was nothing, so I became a community ambassador to shine a light on it.

"It is predominantly a women's disease but we want it to be inclusive, it means the world because it was dad's big final wish to have other men know breast cancer can happen to them."

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The Hat Project encourages everyone to take a photo wearing a hat and post it to social media, using the hashtags #mensbreasthealth #hatproject2020 #menshealthweek and tag the location.

In Australia, men account for less than one per cent of breast cancer diagnoses, with an estimated 164 diagnosed each year. More than 90 per cent of those men will be diagnosed at or after age 50.

The marketing of breast cancer as a 'woman's disease' can make it harder for men to talk about, according to the NBCF.

Symptoms can include a lump in the breast, a change in skin colour, texture or appearance, a change in the shape of the muscle, discharge, pain in the area or swollen lymph nodes under the arm.

For information visit The Hat Project - A Unique Cancer Battle on Facebook.