Movember kicks off tomorrow- Get your Movember Mustache ready!
As October fades, it’s time to put away your pink and shift your focus from tatas to testes. Men’s health reigns supreme this November, and in particular raising awareness for two issues affecting men: prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
How to do it? Participate in Movember, the annual month of mustache cultivation and fundraising. But don’t fall into the slactivism trap and grow your lip-fro without setting up a fundraising page. The whole point of growing a Movember Mustache is to raise awareness AND funds for cancer research. The guys behind Movember make online fundraising easy- allowing you to set up as a lone wolf, wolf pack, or join a team. And where do those funds go? You and your ‘stache help fund programs for men living with cancer or mental illness along with cancer research in 21 countries, including the United States, Great Britain, Australia, and Canada. Two major charity partners in the US are Livestrong, which has been part of Movember since 2009, which focuses on Cancer Awareness, and the Prostate Cancer Research Fund.
So why all the hoopla over men’s health? Prostate cancer is the second most diagnosed cancer among men, coming after skin cancer. According to Cancer.org, one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. And testicular cancer? The rate of testicular cancer is increasing, and it mainly affects young men- meaning raising awareness is key, because this cancer is highly treatable. Testicular cancer however is less common, only affecting 1 out of 270 men.
Men’s health deserves the same amount of time and focus as breast health- but ladies, we aren’t left out this month. The guys behind Movember recognize that women play a huge role in men’s health, often reminding and encouraging our loved ones to get certain tests and screenings done. Check out their website section devoted to Mo Sistas and see how you can get involved- and arm yourself with information so you know exactly how to handle the jeering from your husband’s friends as he grows his sweet Movember Mustache and they ask if you are growing one too. Oh, and if you want to grow a ‘stache, or just put down the razor for a month, far be it from us to stop you. Seriously, so long as you’re raising money for the cause, we applaud your efforts.
Before you get all happy-go-lucky and hop on the Movember Mustache bandwagon, there are some rules, gentlemen. First up you have to celebrate on November 1 with a total shave down- Movember calls it Shave the Date. Every Movember Mustache Maverick has to start the month clean shaven- no fair having a head start. Then it’s on. Grow it out, wax it up, and for goodness sakes share pictures as you go along with fundraising updates. FN’s own Publisher, Stan Dougé, is a participant this year. Also participating is local triathlete Adam Francis, whose motivation is his father, who passed away from the disease when it metastasized in his bones. This is Adam’s second year participating; last year he posted a lot of updates on Facebook along with prostate cancer facts and statistics as his way of contributing towards raising awareness. You can follow local FN mustache progress on Facebook and we will be asking for photo updates from our participating readers. Interested in joining our FN Fundraising Team? Sign up on Movember and join our team- FitNationMagstaches. Things are about to get hairy. Let’s raise some awareness and funds for men’s health!