Hairy Causes: A Movember to Remember

You may notice a trend during the month of November where lots of normally clean-shaven blokes are suddenly sporting (often embarrassingly hideous) attempts at growing a moustache. There’s a good chance that they are making a spectacle of themselves for a worthy cause. Over the past sixteen years, the Movember Foundation has raised over a billion dollars globally to promote awareness of men’s health issues, including prostate cancer, testicular cancer, depression and suicide prevention. Last year, participants in Australia alone raised $29 million. More than 75% of the money raised is used to fund at least 1250 men’s health projects, including Beyond Blue and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

For the past 12 years, I too have participated in one way or another in Movember, either by growing a mo’ myself or sponsoring others. This year I have joined the official Deloitte Platform Engineering (DPE) Movember team. My motivation has always come in part from my family’s history of prostate cancer: my dad and two of my three brothers have endured this disease. This year, I have even more inspiration, as I recently extended my family’s history via my own battle with prostate cancer. I will share a bit of my story below. Read more of this post