I participated in Movember last year, raising $240 (you can see the end result here), and have this year decided to do it all again, hoping to raise more than last year’s total.

The rule is simple, start clean shaven on 1st of November. Then all we’ve got to do is grow, grow, grow and put up with the ridicule or praise knowing that it is all in the name of helping other men-folk of the world.

And it is, considering around 1 in 8 men will experience depression in their lifetime, and close to 3000 men die of prostate cancer in Australia EACH YEAR. 3000 each year, and it’s increasing. That’s around the same amount of women dying of breast cancer, and how many breast cancer/pink/pink ribbon things do you see these days?

So, what it boils down to is this: I want you to sponsor me. Every little bit counts and I hope you see that it’s for a good cause. If you go to this magic little page, you can donate via that fantastic piece of plastic called your credit card, or via the ever so technologically advanced PayPal. (receipts are issued and apparantly anything over $2 is a tax deduction so it’s not all bad)

If you’re a fella and don’t mind getting pointed-and-laughed-at for a month, remembering it’s all for us guys (and let’s face it we gotta stick together), then I encourage you to join too.

You can also pay attention to this blog for progress shots, that I’ll try and upload at least once a week.

Edit 01.11.09 – see this post for progress shots, and totals of amounts raised.

My grand total in donations is $175, and I’m going to bring it up to $200 personally which isn’t too bad an effort.  So thank you to all that did donate, and I hope you do so again when I participate next year.

The final result? Well see for yourself below, taken this morning before it was shaved off.

Movember End Result

Truth be told I have only just registered, BUT, I have complied with the rules of Movember since the 1st, with the intention of registering and doing a blog post about it.  I will update this post shortly with a progress shot taken a couple of days ago, along with more during the coming weeks.

Having a read of these stats, and it shows why this is an important issue:

• Depression affects 1 in 6 men and most don’t seek help. I personally know a few people who are suffering from it and although they have all gotten help, one of them took an awfully long time to do so.
• In Australia last year, 18,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer with 2,900 dying from it.  This is equivalent to the number of women who die from breast cancer each year.

We have pink ribbon day, and all of these other foundations and events and such for breast cancer, but as far as I can tell, not much for prostate cancer even though it kills the same number of people each year.  As for depression, well, 1 in 6 is a pretty large statistic.  That’s why Movember is a great project and hopefully all of us that are growing a Mo are able to raise even a little bit more awareness of these issues so that do suffer from these two issues are able to get the support they need, and hopefully in the case of prostate cancer, find a cure.

So, does this sound like a good enough reason to sponsor me? If so, please visit my donation page. (All donations above $2 are tax deductible and receipts are issued).  The funds raised go to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue.

Otherwise, sit back and watch as the Mo grows…

Updated on 2008-11-25

As promised, here are the progress shots.

Day 9

Day 18

Day 25

Thanks to some generous donations, my total raised so far is $120, but I would still like more! Go on, donate here.