The dad standing up against men's breast cancer

When Alan Wake was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2025, it confirmed what he already knew in his own mind.

The father-of-two had already been through the disease twice - albeit it was his wife who had been affected.

Julie had been diagnosed for the second time a year earlier.

"We've got season tickets at the breast care clinic. It's our game," he says.

"I found a lump which appeared literally during one day which is staggering but true.

"It was like having two nipples on one side."

The 59-year-old from Sheffield says had "been through it all before" when Julie, who he met at City School in Stradbrook in the 1970s, was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013.

During her chemotherapy treatment, he suffered a heart attack. It was a period Wake described as "horrendous" for their then-teenage boys.

"You've got a mum who has got no hair, frail and affected by chemo and then you've got a dad who conveniently has had heart attack.

"So, we've got a 10 and 12-year-old who, quite realistically, had thought about losing both parents."

Telling his boys, now in their 20s, that he also had the disease was, he says, "heart-breaking".

"I guess part of the ridiculousness of what's happened is we have told our boys three times that one of us has got breast cancer."

Both were successfully treated at the Sheffield's Weston Park Hospital and both rang the bell to signify the end of their treatment.

According to Breast Cancer UK, about 400 men in the UK are diagnosed each year, compared to almost 60,000 women.

While cancer is no laughing matter for most, Alan decided he wanted to raise awareness through raising smiles - so he's now heading off to do comedy at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The housing consultant will spend a month in the Scottish capital perfoming his 'Manogram – a man with breast cancer' show - with all proceeds going to cancer charities.

He acknowledges that booking an 80-seater venue was "madness" but admits he does have a "track record" of moments of "spontaneity and impulsive decisions".

Although Alan wants to help men understand the risk, he is at pains to explain his and Julie's experiences do not compare.

"I saw what my wife went through. I've lost a breast. I've got a scar, but I can walk topless around a pool and probably people wouldn't even think it was mastectomy and breast cancer.

"A woman couldn't do that," he says.

"I never had any hair to talk about anyway, so that didn't impact me but if you were to come across a bald man, you wouldn't have a second thought.

"If you'd come across a bald woman, you'd think there might be something going on there."

Alan is now on hormone tablets for the next decade - which he says are producing "interesting" side-effects.

"The madness of man's breast cancer is I now have the symptoms of the menopause.

"I've joined the hot flush brigade and apparently I'm having mood swings."

Alan admits surprise about how much humour he found in his experiences.

"Bantering with his mates" was, he says, a crucial aspect of recovery including receiving plenty of texts like, 'you dead yet?'

During treatment he made a record of funny conversations and situations and kept them in notes on his phone.

That record is now the structure for his 45-minute stand-up set.

To prepare him for the month-long run, he enlisted the help of stand-up comedian Terence Hartnett.

He reached out to Terence after watching him perform his "One Ball One Lung" show, which documented him losing first a testicle and then a lung to cancer, at a previous Edinburgh Fringe festival

Under the established comic's eye, Alan performed a warm-up gig to colleagues in Manchester.

"We basically hired a Greek restaurant to do a bit of cabaret and stuff and I was the cabaret," he laughs.

He says the material worked but he found the experience "terrifying", prompting plans for more rehearsing and another practice gig in Sheffield in July.

Alan admits that, despite some sponsorship, he has funded the month himself with all proceeds going to cancer charities Weston Park in Sheffield and Breast Cancer Now.

The charities have thanked their funny fundraiser for his help.

Emily Benson from Weston Park says the show will "help raise vital awareness and encourage important conversations".

Sally Kum from Breast Cancer Now advises others to: "Get into the habit of checking yourself regularly.

"We say it's as easy as TLC; touch your chest, look for changes and check anything new or unusual with a GP."

Alan is adamant that the experience will be a "one-off".

"Whatever happens I'm still not a comedian, I won't be a comedian in September, I will be somebody who's done 22 days at Edinburgh Fringe."

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