Having fun and doing good is something we take seriously at the Movember Foundation.

Having fun and doing good is something we take seriously at the Movember Foundation and encourage our community of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas to fully embrace. Everyone gets it – it’s fun to change your appearance by trying to look like Tom Selleck, Ron Swanson or the Mario Brothers. It helps knowing that a new Movember moustache is also doing a lot of good by spreading awareness for serious men’s health issues.

The awareness and quality of conversations being raised this Movember is unprecedented. We’ve been fortunate to see the moustache grow in some of the unlikeliest places and hear poignant stories from the Mo community. Take a look at some of the highlights from Movember 2014.

Mo’s Around the World

From the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland to the streets of Times Square, the iconic Mo has popped up everywhere.

Graffiti artists from various nations made the streets Mo engaging for the month

Planes, trains and automobiles

These lean, mean, moustachioed travel machines are sparking conversations worldwide from Australia to Belgium and the United Kingdom to Hong Kong. Honk if you’re hairy!

Mo Bro, truck driver and men’s health advocate Filip Moupic is cruising through some of Europe’s largest cities with his trucker… Follow the journey here.

Getting Social

   

The personal connection

Many of our Mo Bros and Mo Sistas support the Foundation because of a personal connection to prostate cancer, testicular cancer or mental health. Whether affected directly or impacted by a loved ones battle with health issues, many of our Mo’s share their story with the community to spread awareness and education to encourage men to change the way they look at their health.

South African Mo Bro Shaun Harris was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 28 in 2011. It was during the second sonar that doctors discovered a Germ Cell tumour – more commonly known as testicular cancer.

"I could not believe that this was happening to me. I was rushed into surgery where one of my testicles was removed, they were however unable to operate on the tumour in my abdomen… I believe that listening to my body, seeking a second medical opinion and not brushing off what I was feeling saved my life, Testicular cancer does not have to be a death sentence if it is detected early enough and I am lucky that the cancer had not progressed past a stage where treatment was no longer a viable option.”

Australian Mo Bro Kieran Ryan took his moustache for a massive 100km run to raise awareness and a whopping $26,000 for men’s health in 2012. Originally, Kieran wanted to participate in Movember for a laugh – what would he look like with a moustache. But his motivation quickly changed in 2009 when he lost a friend to suicide.

“I thought ‘we’re too young for this to be happening’ and from there Movember became part of my life. I wanted to undertake an activity to get people’s attention, something which was challenging and which I was passionate about. People who are suffering from mental health problems are hurting - I wanted to put myself in a position that would test me. I wanted people to see that it was hard and it was a battle that I was taking on one step at a time.”

American Mo Bro Jamie Lindsay joined the movement in 2008 while volunteering for the LIVESTRONG Foundation after being diagnosed with stage IV lymphoma. Jamie had the tools and skills to become an empowered patient, advocating for his own health and medical decisions. While actively monitoring his own health, Jamie went for a semi-annual check up. The doctor performed a DRE exam and discovered two lumps on his prostate, additional tests revealed moderately aggressive cancer in both lobes of his prostate. The hope is that his prostate cancer will be slow growing, giving him time to see a breakthrough in prostate cancer treatment, like laser surgery or new pharmaceutical drugs, to kill the rest of his prostate cancer.

“You have to advocate for yourself. If there is something that ails you, you have to look into it.”

 

Mo Mentors and Ambassadors

While every Mo Bro and Mo Sista is a legend-hairy rock star in our eyes, Movember does attract some other well known figures. These Mo’s use their popularity to spread awareness to the masses.

The outpour of support around the world has been incredible. It’s important to remember that awareness is only half the battle. To carry on making a significant impact on the face of men’s health we need to continue our work as a strategic funder, funding innovative, world-class programs in the 21 countries we serve.

We’re tacking some of the biggest issues in the areas of prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men’s mental health. We’re making progress but we’ve a long way to go to move the dial on the current male health stats, which speak for themselves:

 

-       Each year around 20,000 Aussie men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer

-       Testicular cancer is the second most common cancer, behind skin cancers, in men aged 18-39 years

-       Tragically suicide is the leading cause of death for Aussie men aged 15-44 years

We’re proud of all that we’ve achieved but we only have one definition of success – improving awareness levels of key health issues men face during their lives and finding breakthrough solutions that produce tangible improvements in the lives of those dealing with prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health issues.

Help us to achieve this by making a donation today