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Health & Fitness

Ow! You're poking me!

Moustache growing has its painful sides.

This could be your kids fighting in the back seat on a long car drive.  Or it could easily describe the umbrella jousting that dominates Manhattan sidewalks on rainy days.  But at this stage of Movember, "Ouch!" is the response my moustache gets.

I don't seem to suffer from the "itchy" stage that some guys do.  But when the whiskers get to a certain length, they start stabbing the corners of your mouth in a painfully irritating way.  And that's just one dimension of the issue.  If you're part of a couple, your partner may well have the same response: "Ow!  You're poking me!"  In fact, in late October the topic of conversation is who has received spousal support for joining the Movember effort.

As we suffer through the cheesy, itchy, and pokey stages of moustache growth, we can take comfort in the fact that we're doing this for a good cause.  We're raising money for men's health awareness, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  We're also reminding people that the American Cancer Society estimates that over 33,000 men will die of prostate cancer in 2011.  

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We're trying to break the habit that many men have of avoiding doctors and ignoring early signs of trouble.  Finally, we talk about the fact that many cancers that affect men have good cure rates if detected early, so guys should get checked or learn how to check themselves. 

We're doing this because we want to "change the face of men's health" (get the pun?)  If you can help us, talk about these issues with the men in your life and consider making a donation at http://us.movember.com/m/238501.  If you'd like to take a bigger role, feel free to join our team (click the "Join my Team" button on the donation page) as a Mo Bro or Mo Sista and use the social networking features to spread the word to your own family and friends.

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Thanks, -J.

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