I’m growing a moustache for the month of November. Why am I blogging about it? To combat men’s cancer.
I’m not looking forward to it. It’s going to look unprofessional for a week or so. It will be itchy. And, it will be more salt than pepper.
So why am I doing this? Because it is SOMETHING I can do to combat a feeling of helplessness while my younger brother fights cancer. The discomfort I feel over the next 30 days pales in comparison to the discomfort he is in while he battles through weeks of chemotherapy and endless fatigue.
He is not fighting prostate or testicular cancer. I don’t care. I need to do SOMETHING to combat cancer. So, I am growing a moustache. And raising money to fight cancers that primarily affect men.
The Mo (slang for moustache) and Movember, the eleventh month of the year (formerly known as November), come together each year to create the world’s largest movement for men’s health – bringing much needed awareness and funding to cancers that affect men, specifically prostate and testicular cancer. The Movember event raises funds for carefully selected charitable beneficiary partners – the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
In 2009, more than 192,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and more than 27,000 men will die from the disease. One new case occurs every 2.7 minutes and a man dies from prostate cancer every 19 minutes. It is estimated that there are more than 2 million American men currently living with prostate cancer.
In the United States, between 7,500 and 8,000 diagnoses of testicular cancer are made each year. It is most common among males aged 15-40 years, particularly those in their mid-twenties. Testicular cancer has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers: in excess of 90 percent.
As with all cancers, “cure” rates for prostate cancer describe the percentage of patients likely remaining disease-free for a specific time. In general, the earlier the cancer is caught, the more likely it is for the patient to remain disease-free.
Because approximately 90% of all prostate cancers are detected in the local and regional stages, the cure rate for prostate cancer is very high-nearly 100% of men diagnosed and treated at this stage will be disease-free after five years. By contrast, in the 1970s, only 67% of men diagnosed with local or regional prostate cancer were disease-free after five years.
So over the course of the next four weeks, I’ll post about my progress…with pictures. Just don’t make fun of my gray hairs.
You can support the cause by clicking on this link. https://www.movember.com/us/donate/your-details/member_id/108065/
Tags: Men's Health, Movember, Prostate Cancer, Testicular Cancer
[...] Growing a Moustache and Fighting Cancer « The Full Spectrum Blog Posted by admin in Uncategorized on 11 2nd, 2009 | no responses In the United States, between 7500 and 8000 diagnoses of testicular cancer are made each year. It is most common among males aged 15-40 years, particularly those in their mid-twenties. See the original post here: Growing a Moustache and Fighting Cancer « The Full Spectrum Blog [...]
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