ATHENS, AL -- He's a machine gun salesman who hunts with rock star Ted Nugent and calls himself "too damn mean to die."

When Tony Gooch discovered a cancerous lump on his right breast two years ago, he didn't let years of hardworking, gun-loving masculinity cloud his medical judgment.

He reported the lump immediately. Other guys in his situation shouldn't wait to report their lumps either, he said.

"Cancer doesn't give a damn if you're macho," Gooch said in a recent interview. "Being macho can kill you. Being a tough guy can kill you."

Gooch discovered the marble-sized lump while showering. Five days later, the lump had grown to the size of a pingpong ball. He soon went into surgery.

The cancer had begun to spread into the wall of his chest, but surgeons removed all cancerous cells, he said.

"It was one-and-a-half times the size of a golf ball," Gooch said of his removed tumor. The surgery left a finger-length scar.

Gooch was smart to get the lump checked out. Although breast cancer in men is rare, it can be deadly.

According to the American Cancer Society, about 440 American men will die from new cases of breast cancer in 2009. About 1,900 men will get breast cancer this year.

By comparison, about 192,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected in women. About 40,000 women will die.

The cancer group says men are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. Thus, they have lower chances of survival. Late-stage diagnoses are more common in men because they may not be aware, or quickly report, abnormalities in their breasts.

"Most men don't know what to look for," Gooch said. He advises men to regularly search for lumps and other irregularities throughout their bodies.

Since his surgery, Gooch has visited a breast cancer support group in Athens to help others alleviate the anxiety of being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Double whammy

Gooch's battle with cancer started well before he noticed the breast lump. In 1999, an MRI revealed cancer in his spine, a result of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He was shaken by the news.

"I'd been in good health my entire life," Gooch said. "The worst thing that happened to me was a bad cold."

Days earlier, Gooch, a mechanic, was seriously injured on the job. The injury, combined with his cancer diagnosis, forced Gooch to retire. It was a double-whammy for a guy who had worked since age 9.

The hits kept coming. Gooch's lymphoma, a cancer of certain cells of the immune system, had spread throughout his body.

In 2001, Gooch suffered bone marrow cancer. Surgeons eradicated the disease in the marrow by using stem cells.

In 2003, Gooch went under chemotherapy at Crestwood Medical Center for tumors in his lungs. Two years later, tumors appeared in his left shoulder and a wrist. The tumors were removed.

In 2007, along with having breast cancer surgery, Gooch suffered kidney failure caused by the lymphoma. Gooch, now 64, lives with one functioning kidney.

Gooch has endured 112 chemotherapy treatments since 1999. He's had emotional ups and downs.

"I've been told three times I would not live," Gooch said.

In 2001, before major bone marrow surgery, he even had what he thought might be his last meal. Gooch and his wife, Denise, went to a fancy restaurant near Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

"I had never paid $125 for a meal," he said.

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Stay positive

The pain associated with cancer made Gooch appreciate the smaller things in life.

At Vanderbilt while recuperating after bone marrow surgery, Gooch could see downtown Nashville from his hospital room. He awoke each day at 3 a.m. Traffic gradually picked up. Lights turned on at other buildings. Helicopters landed on the hospital roof not far from his window.

"I was watching Nashville wake up," he said. "It was calming."

Gooch helps other cancer patients stay calm, too. He said a Huntsville man called him who was discouraged. "I just gotta talk to ya," the man told Gooch. "I'm giving up."

In those and similar situations, Gooch tells people to stay positive. After years of emotional support from his wife, Gooch is happy to console others.

"If it wasn't for my beautiful wife, I would be dead," Gooch said.

He's even answered the phone late at night from distraught patients. "I can sleep any damn time," Gooch said. "If I know somebody needs something, I do it."

Gooch also makes the most of his own life. His business, Precision Defense Systems, just moved to a new building west of Athens. He manufactures guns, mostly for local law enforcement agencies.

He drives a Hummer (license plate: MGNDLR, for "machine gun dealer").

He totes a video camera for WTZV-TV, taping feel-good stories for the Athens station.

In December, Gooch goes to Ted Nugent's ranch in Texas to hunt and play guitar. The two met at a hunting convention a few years ago in Las Vegas and became fast friends (Nugent calls him "Goocher").

Gooch's health problems haven't gone away. In September 2008, he suffered a 105-degree fever that put him in a coma for nearly three weeks. The fever caused minor brain damage. He suffers some short-term memory loss.

And on Wednesday, doctors discovered a tumor on his right leg.

But Gooch doesn't worry. He'll simply keep fighting the disease that won't leave his body.

And he'll continue to enjoy everything else.

"Every day is a beautiful day, whether it's sunny, raining, or cold as hell," he said.

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Editor's note: This story had an incorrect byline when it was first published online. The author of this story is Times Staff Writer Steve Campbell.