Criss: Don’t kiss off cancer

In bed one night in 2007, Peter Criss felt something strange: a small lump on his left breast.

“The more I messed with it, the bigger it got and the more it hurt, and that started really scaring me,” the former Kiss drummer says.

He went to the doctor and had some tests and surgery to remove the lump.

A week later, the doctor called. It was breast cancer.

“My heart hit my stomach and my knees buckled,” Criss recalls.

The good news was that he had caught the disease at its earliest stage. After a second surgery in March 2008, he would not need chemotherapy, radiation or medication.

Now, the once-costumed rocker who performed in his Catman makeup is speaking out about his illness to encourage other men to get tested for breast cancer – more commonly associated with women – the moment they suspect anything.

“The more you sit around and say, ‘Well, it’s going to go away,’ that time could be the time that you save your life,” he says.

Men account for only 1 percent of all breast cancer cases, but about 2,000 develop it each year and 440 die from it, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Having a mammogram was an experience in itself for Criss, 63.

“It’s amazing how they can get a guy’s little pecs in that thing that the poor women go through,” he says. “They are so medieval! I have a whole new respect for women going through mammograms.”

Criss was a member of Kiss from 1973-1980, did a reunion tour from 1996-2000, and returned for a final stint in 2003.

He’s working on a solo album and an autobiography.

“I am the Catman, and I do have nine lives,” he says, “but I think I’m down to five now.”

The birthday bunch

Former Beatles drummer Pete Best is 68. Actor Stanley Livingston (“My Three Sons”) is 59. Drummer Clem Burke (Blondie) is 54. Actress Denise Crosby (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) is 52. Actor Colin Hanks is 32. Actress Katherine Heigl is 31. Actress Sarah Hyland (“Modern Family”) is 19.