The sad thing is that my total is worse than the past two years.  It’s currently sitting at $145.

There is still time to donate, so go on and donate.  I will update this post with the final tally once all of the last donations filter through.  Thank you all for your support.

Day 30

And once again, much to the chagrin of my girlfriend, I am participating.  I know my previous efforts haven’t been all too exciting (see my efforts in 2008 and 2009), but that’s not really the point is it?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for gender equality and any health issues are worthy of attention, especially ones which affect so many people, but I’m sort of sick of seeing pink ribbon this and breast cancer that.  Yet I reckon that if you think about health issues that affect men, such as prostate cancer, you couldn’t think of any other day/month/event or even something in the media that highlights it (and I don’t mean “those” ads for those “doctors” either).  Go on, do it now.

See what I mean?  Let’s look at some stats.  Each year in Australia around 3,300 men die from prostate cancer.  According to the National Breast Cancer foundation, around 2,800 women will die from breast cancer each year.  So MORE men die from prostate cancer, yet it doesn’t have the same coverage?  I know a prostate isn’t as attractive as a breast, but cancer is cancer and if men and women are dying, I think the profile of prostate cancer needs to be raised higher.

Then there’s depression.  It’s a major illness affecting around 1 million Australians and on average 1 in 6 people (and 1 in 8 men) will experience depression during their lifetime.  You have to agree that this needs more attention because left untreated it will get worse and can have serious consequences.

What can you do to help?  Well, you can make a donation to Movember and support my efforts.  The Movember foundation works with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue: the national depression initiative.  Last year $18.3 million was donated both the Prostate Cancer Foundation and beyondblue ($9.15 million each).  That’s quite a substantial sum and will help both of those organisations to further their own good work.

My donation link is https://www.movember.com/au/donate/your-details/member_id/2901/ so go on, click on it and donate.  A receipt is issued and any donation over $2 is tax deductible.  After you do that, come back and check out my progress shots.  They’ll be worth a laugh!

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.