Police officer Eric Matsumoto, a 31-year veteran, dons his dark-blue uniform every day he works, but this October he’s wearing pink when he’s not on duty.

“It’s nothing,” he said of the curious looks he gets about his color choice. “I’m not embarrassed about it or anything like that!”

He’s been through way worse, taking care of his wife, Kehau, through four bouts of breast cancer and, most recently, leukemia.

“I support my wife, and this is one way of making people aware,” said Matsumoto, 61.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the color pink is associated with the cause.

Stepsons Kalani Rieta Jr., 52, and Naluahi Rieta, 48, are joining Matsumoto in raising funds for the American Cancer Society’s Ninth Annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, Oct. 21 at Keehi Lagoon Beach Park. They are among the men who signed up for the Real Men Wear Pink campaign, each committed to raising at least $1,000 for the event by wearing pink throughout the month and boosting breast cancer awareness through their social networks.

They are all returnees from last year’s inaugural Pink event, and the brothers are longtime participants in the Cancer Society’s Relay for Life fundraiser.

Nationally, 1 in 8 women and 1 in 1,000 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. An estimated 1,120 women in Hawaii will be newly diagnosed with the disease in 2017, and 140 women will die from it, according to the American Cancer Society.

”It’s hard when someone goes through pain and you don’t know what to do,” said Matsumoto, who lives in Hawaii Kai. “I just pray and just ask, ‘Lord, help us get through one day at a time.’”

Kimo Villarimo, 52, of Mililani said he too has been affected by breast cancer: His wife Lisa’s first mammogram five years ago revealed a tiny, early-stage cancer. She was treated with radiation, but the cancer returned six months later.

Since she was at higher risk of recurrence because of her family history, the mother of two decided to undergo a bilateral mastectomy to remove all her breast tissue. As her primary caregiver, her husband said he felt helpless as she struggled with the disease, treatment and surgery, and wanted to do something more to support her.

“I applaud my wife’s courage to do that. She was 40! She said, ‘Let’s get rid of these things because I’ve got things to do, I got a family to raise,’” Villarimo said.

“People get hung up on the cosmetics, but that wasn’t what I was looking at. I tried to make sure she knew she was attractive to me still … and made her understand how I felt about her.”

Villarimo, a sales associate at Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa, and former iHeart Radio announcer, wears a uniform on the job, but when he’s not, “I pink it up!”

He always attaches a pin to his shirt that says “Real Men Wear Pink,” as a conversation starter. Whenever he sees a woman wearing a head-cover because of hair loss due to chemotherapy or someone wearing a T-shirt with a cancer logo, he asks whether they are cancer survivors or are close to someone who is.

“Suddenly we’re attached,” he said. “We’re all in the same fight no matter what your gender.”