Saying Goodbye to MOvember 2011

Posted on December 1, 2011 by GusF

MOvember, the month long charity event where men donate their upper lips and grow moustaches to raise money for prostate cancer research, has come to a close. Those that found my wonderful moustache creepy and “serial killer-ish” will be glad to know that it is no longer. I am back on the road again to my usual goatee; which I’ve missed dearly, but also enjoyed the month long mo growing.

This MOvember was different than my previous years. This time around I actually joined a team – Marketwire & Sysomos Canada West, and I’m proud to say that our 3 men team raised $800 for the cause. Of course our small team was part of a bigger Marketwire & Sysomos team that raised well over $7,000 combined. I’m also proud to say that the big wigs of our company also matched us up to $5,000 bringing in a total of $12,000! YEAH TEAM!

I wanted to thank all of you who donated and continue to donate every year. It is because of you that Prostate Cancer Canada will receive almost $37 million this year to help with their research.

Movember 2010 – Day 8

Posted on November 8, 2010 by GusF

Hard to believe we are already into our first week of Movember, and what a week it has been. After all I think my Mo is coming in nicely

Canada is on top of the Movember country scale raising over $5.7 million, as of this post. We have over 94,000 MoBro’s (and Mo Sista’s) participating in this years campaign and those numbers are going up on a daily basis as well. Every one of these participants is out there trying to raise awareness for men’s health and prostate cancer. It is truly an amazing sigh to be behold. It’s not often we give men’s health this much attention.

Today I was asked by Rebecca Bolwitt of Miss604, why I’m doing this, what is driving me? I really didn’t have to think long at all about it. As I mentioned on her blog, I’m at an age where it becomes important for a man to be checked yearly for prostate cancer. We as men are brought up to believe that we are macho and that having a prostate exam is somehow degrading and thus fewer men get checked. The good news is that there are blood tests out there now which can help detect the early signs of prostate cancer. The earlier you are detected the easier and quicker it will be to have it looked after.

So don’t let the great turn out of donations affect your decision to help and donate. Every dollar raised in Canada goes directly to Prostate Cancer Canada to fund research into ways of detecting and preventing prostate cancer. This is their only major campaign of the year so every dollar helps.

So please help donate to my campaign, and with every $25 your donate, you will be put into a draw to win a fantastic $75 gift basket from Masc in Yaletown.

Movember 2010 Begins!

Posted on November 1, 2010 by GusF

Movember Begins

So it begins for me again. A freshly shaved face in honour of Movember and raising awareness for men’s prostate cancer.

I wasn’t so scared shaving off the goatee, I was actually very nervous this time around. Last night I took my lovely clippers, took a deep breath and trim it down to as close to the skin as possible so it would be ready for the shave this morning. I have to say it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The person on the other side of the mirror wasn’t shocking to me this time around.

This morning I lathered my face up with shaving cream, feeling odd that I actually had shaving cream on my upper lip and chin. Again taking a deep breath, I shaved it down, trying to be careful of my lips and lovely mole. Alas as careful as I was, I did manage to cut myself – yeah not used to shaving in that area.

All in all, this wasn’t as a dramatic experience as it was last year.

So hopefully you will be able to donate during this month and help me raise money for to fund prostate cancer research. That’s right all proceeds raised go directly to Prostate Cancer Canada. And remember that every $25 you donate, you will be entered into a draw to win a lovely $75 gift basket from Masc.

Getting Ready for Movember 2010

Posted on October 7, 2010 by GusF

Last year in November I participated in a worldwide campaign to raise awareness and research dollars for men’s prostate cancer called Movember; a play on words combing MO (slang for mustache) and the month of November. This year I will be participating again and I’m getting really excited about it.

I attended the Vancouver launch on Tuesday and got a chance to meet Adam Garone, CEO of Movember Campaign who helped spearhead this event. Their plan, which started off as a joke in Australia of 2003, was to bring back the mustache or MO. The next year him and his friends thought it would be a great idea to raise awareness to men’s health issues with the month long campaign.

To add to the excitement I was asked by the organizers to be the Vancouver Captain and voice in Vancouver. Though I am honoured to have been asked, unfortunately I had to turn down the offer due to my hectic schedule already. That said I still plan on participating this year and helping raise funds for Prostate Cancer Canada.

This year’s campaign is to bring some luxury back to the mustache as shown in the video below.

So if you would like to support me in my cause, please donate.

Below is a preview of what I ended up with at the end of my month long campaign last year. Alas I don’t know what I’ll be doing this year I still have a few weeks to decided on what MO to grow.

Last Day of MOvember

Posted on November 30, 2009 by GusF

Photo by Emme Rogers

Sad, but true, today is the last day of Movember. Interestingly enough it ends on a MO-nday

That’s right folks for all of you that have been squeamish about the furry lip faces walking around the city can begin to rejoice! But let us not all rejoice just yet. If you haven’t donated yet to this cause, please do so now. All proceeds that are raised during this long month fundraiser will go to Prostate Cancer Canada.

I’ve been proud to participate in this event and proud to show off my MO’s progress this past month. I’ll be sad to see it go, but before everyone rejoices that I will no longer have the MO, I will again grow my goatee

I like to personally thank everyone that has donated to me. Without your help our Twi’stache Vancouver team would not have been as successful.

Movember – Final Week

Posted on November 23, 2009 by GusF

As the new Michael Jackson movie states, This Is It. This is the final week of Movember. This is the last week where men from around the world all joined together and grew mustaches (or mo’s as it is know in Australia where the Movember cause originated back in 2003). Globally Canada ranks second next to Australia on the donation scale where we have raised over $4.2 million so far.

I’d like to personally thank all those who have donated to me so far, so if you haven’t please do so today. All the proceeds of this lovely MO are going to Prostate Cancer Canada.

Some short facts about prostate cancer:

25,500 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year alone (2009).

4,400 men will die of the disease this year.*

During his lifetime, 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with the disease.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to afflict Canadian men.

Rates of prostate cancer in men are comparable to rates of breast cancer in women.

The incidence of prostate cancer is increasing due to the aging of the population.

Over 90% of prostate cancer cases are curable if detected and treated in their earliest stages.

The disease is a far greater threat for those with a family history of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is turning up in men in their 40s.

Prostate cancer develops as a result of dietary, environmental and heredity factors but more research is needed to identify its causes and prevent the disease.

The disease has no symptoms in its earliest, most curable stage – so if you are 40 years old, we recommend you talk to your doctor about a prostate examination, including a digital rectal exam (DRE) and a prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test.

Side effects – even of successful treatment – may include incontinence, impotence and changes in bowel habits.

Prostate cancer is often slow growing: in some patients, close monitoring may be sufficient treatment. Others, with more aggressive disease, warrant radical treatment with surgery or radiation. The latter treatments are sometimes combined with hormonal therapy.

Thought to be a potentially preventable cancer in many cases, but more research is needed and government support for this research is inadequate.

* Source: Canadian Cancer Society

I’ll leave you with an awesome video written by Tanya Roberts of Bluefinch Creative and produced by Greg Meeres of Boldfish Video Production on the Movember cause!

EDIT: A good friend Tris Hussey is auctioning off dress rehearsal tickets to the Vancouver Opera’s Norma before Blogger Night this Saturday. Please leave a comment on his blog and he’ll donate 100% to one of us Movember players. Happy bidding.

Movember – Day 11 of the MO

Posted on November 11, 2009 by GusF

It’s hard to believe that 11 days ago I shaved off my goatee and became clean shaven after 15 plus years of having a goatee. Of course that didn’t last for long as that was the first day of my 30 day journey of growing a mustache or “MO” all in support of Movember, a charity drive to raise awareness for men’s prostate cancer.

I think my MO is coming in nicely and I’m getting excited to seeing the end result on the 30th of this month.

You can still help by donating to my Movember cause. As the video states, every bit helps. Think about doing without that latte today and donate. Maybe I should offer the highest bidder to shave off my MO at the end of the 30 days or have them decided if I should keep it or not? At any rate, if you don’t donate, you won’t get a chance to decide.

For more information on prostate cancer, please visit the Prostate Cancer Canada‘s website.