It was nice to see the NFL’s big burly players wearing pink for breast cancer awareness. My compliments to their compassion and community awareness and being willing to wear pink. Yes , I know the saying, real men wear pink. But our society, from when we’re first born, assigns pink to the little female babies and blue to the males.
I hope, with the same enthusiasm, that those same players think very hard about male health issues as well and are willing to make the sacrifice and shave off their mustaches or facial hair for , what has become to be known as, Movember. That is a combination of mustache and November. It was started in Australia and now has become a worldwide phenomenon.
The idea is for men to grow a mustache at the beginning of the month and shave it at the end of the month. Pledges of money are made supporting a men’s health issue charity. Often involving prostrate cancer and depression, it brings attention to those issues that effect males and strike them down too early in life.
That brings this story to me and what I will do for Movember. You see, about 2 years ago, I decided to stop shaving and letting my hair grow. I guess after 38 years in law enforcement, I had had enough of the “ squared away” look of a para-military organization and wanted to embrace retirement in total abandonment and relaxation.
The idea came to me along this journey that donating my hair would be a worthy thing to do. So many cancer patients without hair due to radiation and chemo treatments, and me blessed with a wealth of hair, it just made sense. I saw, first hand, my poor mother in law suffer through the treatments, having to get several wigs herself. I even met with a wig maker who said my hair would make a wonderful wig.
So it was set. Grow my hair the required length, carefully cut it per their instructions, package it and mail it . Simple enough I thought, a natural process for which I was blessed. Hair is not an issue with me, just the frequency of haircuts.
Through a series of events that followed, plans changed. I was approached by my friend Marjorie to consider donating my hair to her Movember fund raiser. This sparked my interest and gave direction to where I wanted to go with this hair donation notion. She offered that the funds raised would go to leukemia research, which I identified with as my brother in law was in remission for leukemia and which killed Marjorie’s husband. But added to that offer was that half of the funds raised would support the efforts of an upcoming film about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in police and first responders called Code9 – Officer needs assistance. I appear in this film and am very involved in its production, so this meant a lot to me. I would sacrifice my hair, gladly, for both causes.
So as Movember approaches, plans are being firmed up and changes made. Marjorie felt the monies could best be donated to her mental health organization, NAMI-Sussex County for the work they are doing addressing PTSD in veterans and their sponsoring efforts by organizations and groups like Code 9. I know PTSD isn’t a male health issue and that both males and females suffer from it. In fact, according to the article in Medscape Multispecialty entitled Gender Differences in PTSD, females twice as likely to suffer PTSD than males.
Where does that leave the males suffering from this disorder? Forgotten or made to believe that males don’t suffer PTSD? This would be an unfortunate outcome and lead men to disregard this health issue. This is a very real issue for men . I know, I suffer from it. Too many males suffer in silence, ashamed that they would be viewed as weak. A real man would suck it up and move on. Only females complain about these feelings and emotions. That kind of thinking gets people deeper into this disorder. That kind of thinking ruins lives, families and careers.
So this Movember as I say goodbye to my long hair and beard, I know that I am helping those suffering in silence . And as the NFL demonstrated with breast cancer awareness, it would be nice to see more clean shaven faces for a worthy men’s health issue, whatever you may choose to support. Hopefully PTSD will be one of them.
