Four years ago Cathy McMillan’s husband died as a result of prostate cancer. While he did get a physical checkup, it was done too late to stop the spread from affecting his life. Since then McMillan has been a big supporter of Rip’N Ronnie’s Fitness team; the group raises funds every year by growing their moustaches during November — or Movember—.
This year something sparked in her to help out; after some urging from owner Sheldon Ronnie, McMillan decided she had to do something.
McMillan decided not to shave her legs for the month. “I just had kind of a brainwave.”
At the time of writing, she had already raised more than $500 in pledges with more to come in. Family and friends familiar with McMillan’s story have shown her strong support over her effort.
“I probably will do it every year now. Why not?” McMillan stated.
While the Movember organizations started out as a way to raise awareness for prostate cancer, planners introduced men’s mental health last year and this year testicular cancer. McMillan feels men generally neglect their health and this is one way to promote it.
Her advice for men hesitant to receive a checkup: “Just go. Go see the doctor.”
If caught in time, the disease is highly curable but she believes most men don’t want to discuss the sensitive issue. Despite the hesitancy, she is seeing more men discussing the benefits of early discovery.
“I think men are talking about it too,” McMillan said.
She hopes her actions inspire other women to join in on the campaign in the future. Ronnie said McMillan has been a supporter of his team and he enjoyed seeing her join nine other men in their R2Fitness team raising funds. After a little urging at the end of October she was on board.
“She decided right then and there she was going to join the team,” he added.
The different styles making up some of the Mo Bros’ moustaches bring with them a certain kind of community as well, he explained: the Trucker with its chops growing to the chin is perhaps one of the more recognizable but the Undercover Brother is sure to give guys a chance to reminisce about old cop movies and the Connoisseur, with its curls at the end may remind people of a Victorian time.
“There is a bit of brotherhood associated with it, too,” explained Ronnie.
At the time of writing, Canada was leading the pack with $14.5 million raised from 165,811 registrations. The United States was next with $11.8 million and 210,248 registrations and the United Kingdom at $10.5 million with 244,524 registrations. Those totals will change as donated cash does not get registered until paid to the Movember organization.
Check out http://ca.movember.com/ and search R2Fitness to see the team.