Rod was diagnosed with Stage IIIB IBC and treated with FEC x 3, Taxol x 3, a mastectomy and axillary clearance, with 2/23 nodes positive, and had 33 doses of radiation. He has been on tamoxifen for six years. Rod soon realised that he needed to get up to speed on treatments to ensure that the was receiving best-practice protocols.

Two years later, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had a prostatectomy. Currently he's NED for both cancers.

Rod tries to engage effectively on social media He is a regular poster on Twitter @malefitness and contributes to various closed breast and prostate cancer Facebook pages. He also writes articles and creates videos. The articles can be found HERE and on the Media page of his website, MaleBC.org, which includes links to the latest research, and to a Manifesto which is aimed at securing some basic equivalence for men diagnosed with and treated for this disease. He's also the survivor story editor for the Male Breast Cancer Coalition.

As well as speaking about male breast cancer at local functions, he volunteers as a telephone counsellor. Rod regularly appears in a variety of media, educating and informing the public about breast cancer as a genderless disease.