Movember, the annual event which sees men growing a mo for 30 days in November, is in reverse for Dubbo locals Ben Cluff and his father Peter Cluff
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Ben and Peter already sport moustaches, Peter has actually had his for over 40 years.
For the past few weeks they have been raising funds for the foundation, and their goal is to raise $3000.
While the father and son are united in Movember’s cause of promoting men’s health, there is a twist at the end, where only one will forego their mo.
For if they hit the $3000 mark then Peter will have to shave his upper lip, but if they don’t then Ben’s moustache is on the chopping block.
It was Ben’s idea to do the challenge and it took a little convincing to get his Dad on board.
“But it’s all going towards a good cause, so I thought ‘why not’,” Peter said.
“I usually keep the beard trimmed, but for this challenge I thought I would grow out the ends a bit. It’s good because a lot of people have come up to me which has then started a conversation about Movember.”
Ben, who works at local cafe’ Black Tambourine said with the recent rain the region has received, a lot of farmers’ have come in to the coffee shop.
He said seeing his moustache and the Movember posters, had generated conversation around men’s health, particularly mental health and suicide.
The Movember website says the state of men’s health is in crisis, but through fundraising the foundation aims to reduce the number of men dying prematurely by 25 per cent, by 2030.
According to the website men experience worse longer-term health than women and die on average six years earlier.
Prostate cancer rates will double in the next 15 years, while testicular cancer rates have already doubled in the last 50.
Three quarters of suicides are men and poor mental health leads to half a million men taking their own life every year. That’s one every minute.
Figures from the Cancer Institute NSW state that an average of 43 men in the Dubbo Local Government Area (LGA) are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and around 6 men die each year from the disease.
Dubbo has an incidence rate for prostate cancer (99.2 per 100,000) that is significantly higher than the NSW average (87.9 per 100,000).
Dubbo has a mortality rate for prostate cancer (12.6 per 100,000) that is slightly higher than the NSW average (11.7 per 100,000).
In the Dubbo LGA an average of two men are diagnosed with testicular cancer each year.
Dubbo has an incidence rate for testicular cancer (4.4 per 100,000) that is significantly higher than the NSW average (3.4 per 100,000).
You can still donate to Ben and Peter’s challenge either at Black Tambourine, Dubbo Myer or Western NSW Local Health District in Hawthorn Street.