BLAINE, Minn. (Nov. 8, 2013) — Many men seem to have a hard time taking care of themselves. Going to the doctor, eating healthy, it all seems just a little too difficult for many men. The Movember campaign is working to change that and they have already had a lot of success. During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of millions of moustaches on men’s faces around the world. Through the power of the Mo, vital funds and awareness are raised to combat prostate and testicular cancer and mental health challenges.
Men’s cancers, prostate cancer in particular, are often thought of as an old man’s disease and not very dangerous. The fact is prostate cancer can affect any man and is something that everyone should take very seriously. “Men need to understand that prostate cancer is real, it strikes young men, it kills young men, but it is highly curable when detected early” said Jean Bruggman, regional coordinator for Zero – The End of Prostate Cancer. Steve Roecklein, the president of the Minnesota Prostate Cancer Coalition added “one out of six men during their lifetime will get diagnosed with this thing…we will have 230,000 new cases diagnosed in 2013 and over 30,000 men will die.”
What started ten years ago with 30 men in Australia who wanted to bring back the mustache and raise awareness about men’s health has grown into a worldwide phenomenon. Last year more than 1.1 million men participated in Movember. For many Mo Bros once they start they are hooked. “Movember kind of presented itself to me about five years ago” said Movember Minneapolis member Steve Pesek “a friend of mine that I was living with, his uncle was going through prostate cancer…this is now my fifth year growing a mustache and I love it.”
In a way Steve sees his decision to grow a mustache each Movember as a commitment to be a walking billboard for men’s health. “The upper lip is a billboard” explained Pesek. “You can strike up a conversation…then you can talk to people about their experience with cancer in their family, you can talk about…when was the last time you had a health screening?”
Part of the goal of the Movember movement is to bring people together. This month there are several Movember events throughout the metro area and Movember Minneapolis is planning a big gala party to celebrate at the end of the month, for more details on events see the related links column.
With Movember growing from 30 participants to over a million in just ten years this truly is a movement and it is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. So men, it is time to get serious about your health and why not sport a moustache at the same time.
Related Links
Movember
Movember Minneapolis on Facebook
MN Prostate Cancer Coalition
Zero – The End of Prostate Cancer
Local Movember Events
Movember Minneapolis Gala Party
Moustache Run
Ben’s Movember Fundraising Page
