Why Movember?

With 505,760 Mo Brothers and Sisters registered to raise funds for Movember in 2015, the total raised internationally so far is C$53,795,528 and counting. This money will be used to fund breakthrough solutions that produce tangible improvements in the lives of those dealing with prostate cancer, testicular cancer, poor mental health and physical inactivity. We want to give more life to our fathers and sons.

Why do we need to do this?

As stated on the Movember Foundation web site, the state of men’s health is in a crisis. Simply put, men are dying too young.

Gender is one of the strongest and most consistent predictors of health and life expectancy. For men, this is not good news. On average, across the world, men die 6 years earlier than women.

Moreover, poor mental health affects men more than women: three quarters of suicides are by men. The World Health Organization estimates that 510,000 men die from suicide globally each year. That’s one every minute.

The impact of prostate and testicular cancer on lives is substantial, with prostate cancer being the second most common cancer in men worldwide and the number of cases expected to almost double to 1.7 million cases by 2030.

Yet this gender-based inequality in health has received little national, regional or global acknowledgement or attention from health policy-makers or healthcare providers. This is exactly why the Movember Foundation focuses on men’s health. This is why Mo Bros and Mo Sistas from across the globe become a united voice every Movember, bringing vital funding and attention to the hidden men’s health crisis.

This is not just an issue for men. In order to tackle the problem and work towards a world where future generations of men are not faced with the same issues as today, we need to take action at both an individual and community level. This means engaging men and women, businesses, sporting groups, community organizations, governments, health policy makers and healthcare providers in the efforts to reduce the current gender inequality in health outcomes.

(Credit Movember Foundation web site: https://ca.movember.com/programs/cause)

Jon Sam

We are proud and happy that one of our Mo Stashed Hairiers, a 3-year veteran Mo Bro, is also a medical doctor and pediatrician, Dr. Jon Sam whose stated motivation is: "Bros and their dads. And one day their sons."

Matt Penfold

And here is our indefatigable stalwart Matt Penfold on 

day 30 struggling to see over his moustache.

We congratulate Matt on achieving 

Platinum status, raising over $1,000.

Just a Whisker under Three Grand

We are just $5 short of $3,000 at the time of going to press. What impresses me even more is the number of donors who have supported the Mo Stashed Hairiers so far this year - 47 and counting. That is counting Anonymous as one donor but I know that we have had more than one anonymous donation. A big thank you to all of you, our donors and supporters.

At least three of our donors are themselves cancer survivors - two with prostate cancer. One wrote to me recently after I approached him about Movember. He gave me permission to publish a portion of his email anonymously:

Thanks for asking about my health. I'm glad to report that I am doing fine and recently went back to work again after a break of almost 2.5 years!
My MRI reviews have been stable with no new growth, and now my scans are every 4 months. I still do get tired some days.
I'm quite optimistic that I will beat this and have made many changes in my life to back me up and boost my arsenal of weapons to attack! Daily yoga, meditation, exercise and healthy eating are a normal part of my life now.

Thanks to advances in medical science and technology another of our cancer survivors received a new bladder formed from part of his bowel. Movember is a huge enabler of the kind of medical research needed to make these breakthroughs. All the small donations together add up to the millions of dollars that it takes. Thank you.

And now, on a lighter note, here is Matt on Day 25 singing the national anthem.

Matt - Day 25

Raising Awareness is Valued Support

Following is the essential text of emails that I have sent to friends, family and business associates. I should stress that only one of the three ways of supporting my Movember effort is financial. If you can just talk about Movember with family and friends that is already a big win for raising awareness of the issues around men's health.

As a prostate cancer survivor I am extremely appreciative of modern medical technology in a first-world country like Canada, but I'm also acutely aware that  too many men are dying too young of preventable causes even though medical science is making discoveries and breakthroughs as we speak.

I invite you please to support me in one or more of the following ways, only the last of which is financial:

1. Can you talk about Movember with colleagues, family and friends? This will further one of the primary aims of Movember which is to raise awareness of men's health issues - prostate and testicular cancer in particular but also men's health generally, importantly including mental health.
2. Can you encourage friends and family to get on the Internet and have a look at the Mo Stashed Hairiers' blog?http://mostashedhairiers.blogspot.com/ In addition to team "news" there are also some pages on prostate cancer and men's health in general which are "easy" reads.
3. Finally, but not least, can you consider making a donation to the causes supported by Movember by sponsoring me or one of my team? You can find donations links from the Mo Stashed Hairiers' blog or you can click on this link to my personal Movember "Mo Space" donations page. http://mobro.co/TerryMcCann

Donations above $10 are tax deductible in Canada. Any donation of any amount, even the smallest, will be welcomed; it all adds up.

Thank you in advance for supporting our team's efforts to change the face of men's health.

We have some updated photos.

Darren

Matt

Jon - note mo's on niece's PJs

Terry

Movember - Opportunity to Teach and Learn

The month of Movember provides a great opportunity for sons to learn in a fun filled way the importance of the basics of men's health - starting with exercise and healthy eating.

Like father, like son

Have you had a look yet at any of the other pages on our blog?

To move... or not to move.

Plan to MOVE and then MOVE !!

Physical Inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality and causes 3.2 million deaths globally. Physical inactivity is killing us.

Approximately 3.2 million deaths each year globally are attributable to insufficient physical activity.

Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality.

41% of men in high-income countries don’t exercise enough.

Physical inactivity is a big deal. Being active is essential to prevent and reduce risks of many diseases and improve physical and mental health.

Physical inactivity puts you at a higher risk of cancer and many other diseases.

Being active helps men stay socially connected and builds positive behaviors.

Credit: The above information and image are taken from the Movember Canada web site.

Half Way

Thank you to all our sponsors for your generosity.

This is a good time to remind people that Movember is not just about 'raising money'. Very importantly, Movember is also about education and raising awareness of factors influencing men's health, longevity and quality of life. Please take time to read the pages behind the tabs at the top of this page: Men's Health, Keep on Top of Your Game, Prostate Cancer and Testicular Cancer. Knowledge is power. Ignorance breeds anxiety or a false sense of security.

Same picture updates from our leading fund raisers:

Jon

Matt

Day 13 - some new photos

Many thanks to our sponsors. The team now has collected over $1,000.

Here are some fresh pics. Not quite the firemen's calendar but surely not far off!

Matt

Patrick

Jon

November 11 - Lest We Forget

We pause to remember.

Wilfred Owen is the writer of war poetry whose works speak to me more than any other - and there are many other good war poets. Owen was killed in action one week before the end of the First World War.

On this Remembrance Day I found this poem, The Sentry, very sobering. For Owen there was nothing glorious about war even as we remember with gratitude those who died for the freedoms we take for granted.

(Whizz-bangs was the term used widely in WWI by British and Commonwealth servicemen to describe any form of German field artillery shells. The term was originally attributed to the noise made by shells from German 77mm field guns where the whizz of the shell, travelling faster than sound, was heard before the bang of the gun.)

WWI - wounded soldiers

Wilfred Owen

The Sentry 

We'd found an old Boche dug-out, and he knew,
And gave us hell, for shell on frantic shell
Hammered on top, but never quite burst through.
Rain, guttering down in waterfalls of slime
Kept slush waist high, that rising hour by hour,
Choked up the steps too thick with clay to climb.
What murk of air remained stank old, and sour
With fumes of whizz-bangs, and the smell of men
Who'd lived there years, and left their curse in the den,
If not their corpses. . . .
                        There we herded from the blast
Of whizz-bangs, but one found our door at last.
Buffeting eyes and breath, snuffing the candles.
And thud! flump! thud! down the steep steps came thumping
And splashing in the flood, deluging muck —
The sentry's body; then his rifle, handles
Of old Boche bombs, and mud in ruck on ruck.
We dredged him up, for killed, until he whined
"O sir, my eyes — I'm blind — I'm blind, I'm blind!"
Coaxing, I held a flame against his lids
And said if he could see the least blurred light
He was not blind; in time he'd get all right.
"I can't," he sobbed. Eyeballs, huge-bulged like squids
Watch my dreams still; but I forgot him there
In posting next for duty, and sending a scout
To beg a stretcher somewhere, and floundering about
To other posts under the shrieking air.
Those other wretches, how they bled and spewed,
And one who would have drowned himself for good, —
I try not to remember these things now.
Let dread hark back for one word only: how
Half-listening to that sentry's moans and jumps,
And the wild chattering of his broken teeth,
Renewed most horribly whenever crumps
Pummelled the roof and slogged the air beneath —
Through the dense din, I say, we heard him shout
"I see your lights!" But ours had long died out.

Moves and money - and a mo'stash gone

Well, we have Jon Sam showing us how to do it with MO MOVES: running, swimming and hockey.

I must say I felt quite virtuous raking leaves for an hour yesterday. Darn, I should have had a video taken. I hope that made up for my calorie intake at the Knights of Columbus fund raising Chefs' Dinner on Saturday night, raising funds for the Southlake Hospital Paediatric Oncology Clinic.

This is what Darren looks like without facial hair:

Darren - clean shaven. It only gets better!

Day 6

Mo Bro Matt is doing an amazing job. He has sent emails to his fans and they have responded.
Great work there, Matt, showing the rest of us how it's supposed to be done.

Matt taking a no nonsense approach

Mo Bro Darren - pre-shave

Mo Bro Greg - Day 1

Mo Bro Patrick - last year

Son of Jon Sam showing how

Mo Bro Terry - Day 6

Day 1. Five in the Team

Well, this is a good start. The Mo Stashed Hairiers are kicking off with five in the team and I am hoping that a few more stragglers are still going to join us. You can find our official Movember page here.

No, I'm afraid these fine gentlemen above are not our team members, but click on their photo and find out where your mo could take you.

Our team members are listed in the panel on the right. Each has a link to their official Movember page where you can see how much their sponsors have contributed to our cause.