It’s that time: Movember so that Mo May Live

Bizarro by Dan Piraro http://bizarrocomics.com
Bizarro by Dan Piraro http://bizarrocomics.com

Short version: Go to my Mo Space: MoBro.co/Targuman and please consider donating either to my account, our Penn State Team, or if you would like, join our team and start collecting yourself! Thanks!

Last year you may recall that I shaved my mustache last year for Movember. I was going for the Abe Lincoln look, but ended up closer to Zeke from Lancaster. The basic idea is to alter your facial hair (if you are able, if not you can still participate in lots of ways) in order to bring about awareness of men’s health issues, especially prostate and testicular cancer. 1There is the concern of prostrate cancer, but that effects both men and women, albeit only those who are high church. Since I have sported my beard for almost all of my married life, my wife is not keen on seeing a whisker-less Gesicht. This year, since the Amish don’t need any help from me, I am going to try the hipster-ruined goatee. We will be doing this live on air Thursday morning with the B94.5 Morning Zoo crew that have been so supported of our Mack Soccer efforts.

Movember has not come without controversy, however. There are some [I was going to link, but that would be just feeding their silliness] that argue because it seems to be focused only on men who can grow facial hair that it “is embedded in white Christian cisgender male privilege.” No really, that’s what she wrote. These arguments are silly (and aren’t really arguments, they are simply vapid rantings). There are ways for everyone to get involved, including Mo Sisters and even folks like me, who choose to adapt the custom. And anyone can donate because after all, the point is to help raise awareness of health concerns that are every bit as serious as breast cancer, for example.

Using scary stats to motivate people is not how we roll at Movember, but the facts below are too startling to ignore. In the US:

  • 1 in 2 men, and 1 in 3 women, will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.
  • 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime.
  • Over 238,000 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed and almost 30,000 men will die of prostate cancer in 2013.
  • Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in males between the ages of 15 and 35.
  • 7,920 men will be diagnosed with testicular cancer and 370 will die in 2013.
  • 6 million people die every year from tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke. One person dies every six seconds.
  • 1 in every 13 men will be diagnosed with lung cancer in his lifetime.
  • While not as common, men can get breast cancer. About 2,240 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed among men and about 410 men will die from the disease in 2013.
  • More than 3.5 million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed each year.
  • An estimated 13 million men, or 11.8% of all men over the age of 20, have diabetes.
  • Approximately 76.4 million men and women have high blood pressure.
  • Men who sit more than six hours a day have an 18 percent increased risk of dying from heart disease and a 7.8 percent increased chance of dying from diabetes compared with someone who sits for three hours or less a day.
  • Globally, 5.3 million deaths will be attributed to physical inactivity.
  • Over 6 million men are diagnosed with depression each year.
  • Almost four times as many males as females die by suicide.
  • 24% of men are less likely to go to the doctor compared to women.

So go to my Mo Space and please consider donating either to my account, our Penn State Team, or if you would like, join our team and start collecting yourself!

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