The month-long event of Movember begins today, giving every man a good reason to not shave his upper lip for a month.
The term Movember combines the slang word ‘mo’ (short for moustache) and the month of ‘November’, and is a charity campaign that challenges men to show their support for men’s health by changing their outer appearance by growing a ‘tache’ for 30 days.
The idea, which started as a bit of fun over a few beers in Melbourne back in 2003, has today become one of the most important events on the charity calendar with over one million donors raising £26 million for Movember’s patronage partners in 2009.
“The Prostate Cancer Foundation is very excited to be working with Movember,” said Dan Zenka, Vice President of the PCF, who himself has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“The funds raised will be deployed rapidly by PCF to accelerate research for better diagnostics, treatments and cures,” Zenka continued.
The money donated will do a lot of good, but spreading the message and getting people to talk about the disease is just as important.
“It’s humbling to see so many men and women passionately support this cause,” said Adam Garone, CEO and Co-Founder of Movember.
“These days you can’t grow a moustache without people asking what’s going on, and that leads to amazing conversations about cancers that affect men.”
A man dies from prostate cancer every 16.4 minutes, yet prostate cancer is still a ‘hidden disease’ that is not widely spoken about.
A man is 35 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than a woman is to be diagnosed with breast cancer.
Get more info here: movember.com
– Inger Smith
