Movember

Yesterday was November 1^st. Why is that significant? Because November is Prostate Cancer awareness month, also known as Movember.

Movember is when some men, stop shaving. They begin the month clean-shaven, and at the end of the month proudly bear bristly beards and mustaches in all their glory in a show of solidarity for Prostate Cancer awareness and fundraising. How is Movember significant to Neil and Deidre's journey? Because PSP is not the only battle Neil's fighting.

From Deidre…

             Neil was also diagnosed in 2006 with prostate cancer. He had surgery; it did not work, resulting in 33 radiation treatments in 2009 that also did not work. His PSA levels rose—an indicator of the cancer returning—and he started hormone treatment in 2012, finished HT treatment in June of 2013. We have for now stopped all treatments for everything, and are going to try to go about the business of living. ONE DAY AT A TIME.

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So if you're a man, consider signing up for Movember and putting away the razor for the next twenty-eight days. If you're a woman, you can help by encouraging the men in your life who are forty-five or older to book—if they have not already done so—an appointment for a prostate exam and, go. Men with a family history of prostate cancer should have their first exam at age forty. Found early, prostate cancer is often beaten. Left too late…



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Prostate-cancer related death in Canadian men is second only to lung cancer deaths.


Diet plays a role in prevention. As does stress management and regular, brisk exercise. Annual checkups ensure early detection if preventive living is not enough.

To learn more about Prostate Cancer, visit the Prostate Cancer BC site. To learn more about Movember, click here. To learn more about Neil's other nemesis, PSP, check here. And if you're of a mind, consider skipping fast-food and alcohol for a week and donating what you would have spent on either, or both, to either or both causes, because Neil, and men like him deserve a cure.

Deborah

Every area of trouble gives out a ray of hope, and the one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable. ~John F. Kennedy

Postscript by author: For those of you not aware, I am Neil and Deidre's niece. Deidre and I lost a special man—her father, my grandfather—to prostate cancer in 1995. Eighteen years later, with the intervening medical improvements in detection and treatment, my father-in-law is currently "cancer-free" four years after having his cancerous prostate removed.