Movember - Grow Your Mo For Prostate Cancer Awareness
Prostate cancer is deadly if not detected early enough. Thank you to Charlene Storozuk for bringing this to our attention. 17 years ago my Dad was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. We were all so devastated and very scared. He was so young at 51, we were not ready to not have him a part of our lives! Fortunately, it was caught soon enough and he has been cancer free for 17 years! He has been participating in a study at Irvine Medical Center in Southern California ever since to help with further research on the disease.
I think I better figure out how to grow a Mo pretty quickly!
Worldwide Prostate Cancer support groups are encouraging men to grow a moustache (also known as a Mo) for the month of November. The campaign is known as Movember and is a way to help bring awareness to prostate cancer and raise funds for research. Women are also encouraged to help get the word out about the Mo campaign. I wanted to join the cause too by sporting a Mo. Although I'm approaching the age where dear old Mother Nature will soon take care of growing a real one for me [sigh], for now, a virtual moustache will have to do.
To help bring a little awareness to prostate cancer, for the month of November I'll be using this profile picture on my Active Rain blog posts. At the beginning of each blog post, I'll include a link to this post so that people can see what the moustache is all about. I plan on using this profile picture on my Facebook and Twitter accounts for the month too. I know it's not much, but if it helps to bring awareness to the cause and even encourages one person to go and get checked out, it will be well worth it.
Did you know that 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime? Those are staggering odds. Even higher than the odds of a woman being diagnosed with breast cancer (1 in 9); yet we never seem to hear too much about prostate cancer. I must admit that I was one of the many that are not aware of its prevalence. It wasn't until someone very close to me was recently diagnosed, that this point was driven home. Thankfully, it was found early.
The good news about prostate cancer? Okay, "The C Word" is never good news, however, prostate cancer is one of the most successfully treated cancers if it's caught early enough. Please encourage every male close to you to speak with their doctor about having a PSA test every year as part of their annual physical. It's a simple test done through blood work. You could save someone's life.
Last year's Canadian Mo campaign was the second largest in the world behind Australia with 35,156 'Mo Bros and Mo Sistas' (as they're called) joining the cause. They raised $7.8 million for Prostate Cancer Canada!
For more information on Movember and to find out what you can do to join the cause in an area near you, click here. Go ahead, grow that Mo (even if it's just a virtual one like mine)!
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