When your father advises one of your friends on prostate cancer

The news of one of your best friends having prostate cancer is not pleasant. Yet having seen my father go through it and survive and thrive, I knew it could be beaten. So, maybe asking my friend to help me move some furniture at my parents’ house wasn’t just to spare myself some heavy lifting. I really wanted to help lift his spirits. And then the conversation happened…

It started with some of the basics: what to expect; a timeline of recovery, etc. And then it got a little weird. Without divulging personal details about the most personal of things, the conversation centered on the male body part.

So, there we are, in the living room and my friend and my father are talking about their…I just can’t say it.

But this is Movember, the time of year I grow a mustache to help raise funds/awareness for prostate and testicular cancer as well as other men’s health issues and suicide prevention. Since a portion of Movember proceeds help men to get the counseling needed to overcome issues related to these cancers, I thought the conversation was relevant because of one simple factor:

Men don’t ask for help.

Help isn’t always somebody carrying the load for you. It’s not about performing surgery to fix things. Help can simply be a kind and sympathetic ear from a friend or, if possible, somebody who’s been down the same path.

I’ve written and spoken many times about how proud I am of my father. His resiliency borders on the miraculous. It was a privilege to share him with my friend, whose father had passed a while back. I’m pretty sure the conversation helped. But it led to another conversation by phone on the ride home…

“Did your father really say…”

Again, I can’t put it in writing. But I think you get it.

If you would like to help raise funds and awareness for prostate and testicular cancer, as well as other men’s health issue, please go to my Movember site. No donation is too small or too large.

As for my friend, his doctors are still figuring his next move. He, too, is growing a mustache this Movember. More importantly, he’s part of the conversation now.

If you would like more men to get the help they need when dealing with prostate cancer, please donate to Movember this month. Here’s the link to my Mo Space.