It’s the middle(ish) of November and so it’s Movember again. Male sports is once again a showcase for the annual 70’s pornstar moustache revival. I used to do Movember fund raising when I had the enthusiasm that you get after you or someone close has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Now I prefer to publicise the risks of cancer. I prefer to encourage men to have an annual screening specifically for prostate cancer.
I’m not going to grow any more moustaches. I’m pleased to say that I was involved in raising thousands of pounds for November over several years but my moustache face won’t be seen by the huge numbers of men that used to see me when I was at work and representing my employer all over the world. Not that I was travelling to promote prostate awareness but my moustache was a symbol that caused people to talk me.
- ‘It killed my father …’
- ‘My brother was ashamed to tell anyone that …’
- ‘My husband won’t …’
- ‘My best friend was devastated when …’
- ‘Do you think I should get …’
- ‘Would you talk to my friend if he wanted …’
- ‘I wish our company would …’
- ‘We’re very backward in this country’
- ‘How can you talk about this in public?’
That last comment that bothered me. If you don’t talk about it, how will anyone learn?
- ‘I was off work two weeks after surgery then got back to driving my taxi.’
- ‘I went to Germany because that’s where the latest robotics were available.’
- ‘Easy robotic surgery, I was back at work in three weeks.’
- ‘I’m a gardener – I took the radiation because I have to work through it’
- ‘Do you want to see the 3D model of my prostate. The surgeon said it would help him control the robotic arm if he could feel it while operating.’
- ‘I suppose I could have been screened but ….’
That last one is the one that bothered me most. He seemed not to want to know. Embarrassment or incontinence or whatever his fears, I was at his funeral a couple of years later.
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