Movember: Why?

Movember 2007. My 1st shave since age 21

Ingrid's reaction

I gave it the full Monty

This is the sixth year that I am growing a Movember moustache. It could never again be as dramatic as the first year when I shaved off the moustache and beard that had been growing on my face since I was twenty-one years of age - before any of my children were born, before my wife and I had met. It was almost traumatic for them to see the face under the beard for the first time. It was also a shock for me to walk out fresh-faced on that first November morning and feel the cold on my skin. It took three or four seconds to work out what the new sensation on my face actually was, and why.

Somehow it was all worth it...

Since then I have got into a routine that reflects the seasons: clean-shaven for the summer, grow a mo' in Movember, let the rest of the beard grow for the winter, shave clean again in May.

Between this year and last I have had another, even more dramatic, loss than merely my beard: I lost a good, faithful old friend when I had my prostate removed. You could say, like Pooh Bear said of Eeyore and his tail, I had been rather attached to it. But I am grateful for modern medicine that enabled me to enjoy the benefits of keeping my prostate for five years after first being diagnosed with a small, slow-growing cancer of the prostate. My first PSA test and follow-up visit to the urologist after the prostatectomy showed a PSA test result of zero - no trace of cancer. But the risk is still there and I will need these tests for the rest of my life.

So here we are, in our sixth Movember, promoting awareness of men's health issues, persuading men to get their physicals and raising funds for prostate cancer research and for funding programs for men's health, including mental health. See all the beneficiaries in the panel on the right.

I am fortunate to have a bunch of friends and colleagues, as well as two of my sons, join me to form, for another Movember...

Wait for it...

Drum roll...

Ta-dah!

The Mo Stashed Hairiers.

Please encourage your friends and family to read this blog and, by the way, you could do worse than click on the "Donate to my team" button. If you personally know one of the Mo Stashed Hairiers you could click on his name to sponsor him instead of distributing your donation across the team. If you do choose to sponsor the whole team, please check the option that says, Split evenly across team members. As always with charitable donations, Canadian donors will get a tax receipt for donations over $10.