The actor and former professional wrestler Tyler Mane has revealed he has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and is undergoing chemotherapy.

Mane, 59, a star of the 2000 superhero blockbuster X-Men, posted the news to Facebook in an attempt to raise awareness of a condition he said was rarely talked about.

“Yep. I have breast cancer. And yep, it’s super rare. Only 1% of breast cancers are men,” he wrote.

“I’ll be honest, my first reaction was to keep it secret. I mean it’s kind of embarrassing. But then I found out that men are more likely to be diagnosed in advance[d] stages BECAUSE it’s not talked about and not looked for. In fact, my doctors all dismissed it and it was only because my wife pushed me to get the lump removed that I got in early.”

The Canadian actor added: “So let’s start talking about it! 1 in 755 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and if caught early, it’s VERY treatable. Time to answer the Wake Up Call! Like, Save, Share, Comment let’s spread the word!”

The American Cancer Society estimates 2,670 men will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in the US this year, and 530 will die.

“Male breast cancer can occur at any age,” the society said on its website.

“While the overall risk is low, it goes up as men get older. The average age at the time of diagnosis is between 60 and 70 years.”

Any individual man’s risk of contracting breast cancer might be higher or lower than one in 755 based on whether he has certain risk factors, including excessive alcohol consumption, obesity and liver disease, the society said.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists several symptoms of possible breast cancer in men, including a lump or swelling in the breast, redness or flaky skin in the breast, irritation or dimpling of breast skin, nipple discharge, and pulling in of the nipple or pain in the nipple area.

The CDC said there were two main forms of the disease in men, invasive ductal carcinoma, where cancer cells begin in the ducts then can grow in other parts of the breast tissue and metastasize to other parts of the body; and ductal carcinoma in situ, in which cancer cells are only in the lining of the ducts, and have not spread to other tissues in the breast.

As in women, the CDC said, treatment may include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy and targeted therapy.

Mane, who played the character Sabretooth in X-Men, and is a former star on the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) circuit, said in the Facebook video he wanted to “kick this thing in the ass”.

“Send this to 10 of your friends and have them follow me, because people need to hear this,” he said. “Fuck cancer.”