Men — it’s time again to grow a mustache for your fellow man’s health: Movember 2024 has arrived!

City Dads Group and Fathering Together are joining forces with two other fatherhood organizations in November 2024 to form a “No Dad Alone” team to participate in Movember, a fund- and awareness-raising campaign to spark conversations about men’s physical and mental health issues.

Movember challenges dudes every November to grow a mustache that will serve as a living awareness ribbon and talking point for the cause. The funds raised during the campaign go for research into and public education on issues such as testicular cancer, prostate cancer, mental health and suicide.

The event is annually run by The Movember Foundation, a leading global organization that brings awareness to serious health concerns for men. It has raised hundreds of millions of dollars since its founding in 2003 to help fund hundreds of health projects globally, according to its website. The organization’s work hopes to counter some of these frightening statistics regarding men’s health:

• Testicular cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men ages 18 to 39.
• Men, on average, die five years earlier than women in the United States.
• One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lives.
• Four of every five suicides are men.

* Join our Movember 2024 #NoDadsAlone team! *

Movember 2024 finds City Dads and its partner, Fathering Together, teaming with The National At-Home Dad Network and Fathers Eve. In June, the groups agreed to join forces as part of a “No Dad Alone” campaign to amplify each other’s messages to help fathers recognize they have help and support in their parenting work.

City Dads has teamed with fatherhood organizations for Movember since 2011, helping to raise more than $135,000 for the cause.

You can help our Movember 2024 team and the cause in several ways:

• Join our Movember City Dads/Fathering Together team. Sign up at our fundraising page. You’ll get a personal fundraising page to link others to.
• Grow a mustache. Shave your face on Oct. 31 and then don’t cut the fuzz off your upper lip for 31 days. Show it off to all, in person and on social media, and tell them why you are growing it. Don’t forget to ask for a donation to help the cause and link to your fundraising page.
• Move rather than mo. Sometimes you can’t grow a mustache. Maybe it’s genetics, maybe it’s because it would jeopardize your marriage. You can still help by committing to walk or run 60 miles in November — one mile for each of the 60 men lost worldwide every hour to suicide. Again, use your personal Movember Dads page for fundraising.
• Host a Mo-ment. Get with your Movember supporters — in person or virtually — for a game night, a sporting event or maybe an initial “shave off” to get the ball rolling and draw attention to the cause.
• Donate. At the least, you can always simply give to the cause. Donate to an individual or our Movember #NoDadsAlone team as a whole.

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This blog post is part of the #NoDadAlone campaign. Fathering Together/City Dads Group, the National At-Home Dad Network, and Fathers Eve are joining forces to amplify messages that help dads recognize we are not alone! Follow #NoDadAlone on Instagram, and learn more at NoDadAlone.com.

Let’s admit it: Most of us hate going to the doctor. In fact, parenting and self-care are often at odds.

This is especially true in the chaotic early years when all parents struggle to find time to use the bathroom in peace much less exercise, see friends, and visit the doctor. Mothers in our culture are frequently reminded to practice self-care, but I’m here to urge increasingly involved fathers to do the same.

Though dads tend to feel less guilty than moms about taking time for themselves, one particular area of self-care we need to improve on is seeing a doctor.

A 2016 Cleveland Clinic survey found only three in five men, ages 18 to 70, get an annual physical. A little more than 40 percent go to the doctor only when they fear they have a serious medical condition. Those are some frightening numbers.

I can speak to the stereotype of men avoiding doctors from personal experience. I was one of those “I hate to go to the doctor” guys, too. But several years ago, I told my wife half-jokingly: “I’m either in the best shape of my life, or I’m dying.” I had finally been working out again, and I was excited to be losing weight. Freshly 40, I had spent nine long years as a stay-at-home dad, so it was thrilling to return to some “me” time.

But then I kept losing weight.

The self-care stumble 

Over three months I lost 15 pounds. Also, I began to notice frequent stomach aches, often followed by diarrhea. I started to worry. Admittedly, as a guy with a hate for going to the doctor, it probably took me longer than the average human to notice these rather dramatic changes.

Then came the kicker.

I was in the yard and bent over to pick up a rake. On my way up, I got dizzy and nearly fell over. Finally, I knew this was more than just “how 40 feels.”

I saw a gastroenterologist who performed a blood test and biopsy before pronouncing the verdict: celiac disease. His nutritionist explained celiac disease is a genetic intolerance of gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and other related grains. Gluten damages the villi in a celiac’s small intestines, which leads to malnourishment and a variety of symptoms — e.g. diarrhea, weight loss, fatigue, migraines and depression among others. Symptoms can appear anytime during a celiac’s life.

What I remember most was the nutritionist’s statement, “It’s not that bad. Just avoid things like beer, bread and pasta.”

What?

For an Irish boy married to an Italian girl, she just eliminated 80 % of my diet! Immediately, I visualized an atlas of my past culinary pleasures I would never be able to revisit: the Buffalo chicken wing, the Philadelphia cheese steak, the Chicago deep-dish pizza.

Many with celiac disease never get diagnosed

But after researching the disease and the growing dietary options, I realized I was lucky this was my only problem. My good fortune was soon reinforced at my new hangout, the health food store.

When I mentioned I had just been diagnosed with celiac disease, an acquaintance asked, “Oh, does your whole life make sense to you now?” I nearly got dizzy and fell over. What? No, I thought. Now my life makes no sense. My whole life was going just fine!

But I learned she knew people whose lifelong health problems were cured after they were diagnosed with celiac disease. So then I felt grateful for 40 years of reveling in gluten. (Specifically, no beer in college would have been tough to swallow.) So if any unexplained symptoms apply to you, consider asking your doctor about celiac disease since many people go undiagnosed.

Now that I’m gluten-free, I’ve regained a few pounds and feel healthy. It’s also nice to fit back into my pre-stay-at-home dad clothes. However, you know you’ve been a stay-at-home dad too long when you put on a button-down shirt and your daughter asks, “Dad, why are you dressed all fancy?”

After my health scare, I consider such a moment a little reward for going to the doctor.

Editor’s Note: This article about men’s health and the fear of going to the doctor was originally published in 2017. Photo: “Doctor greeting patient” by Vic, licensed under CC BY 2.0)

Editor’s Note: We’re digging into our ample archives to find some great articles you might have missed over the years. This one comes from 2014.

I attended my brother’s funeral recently. Cancer took him, just as it’s taken other members of my family and just like it tried to take me.

While I stood there, trying to comfort my family members and reflecting upon my own memories, I couldn’t help but reflect on all that cancer has taken from us – some of the strongest and most vital men and fathers I’ve ever known (right along with our mothers, sisters and children). It’s easy to say that we’ll take a stand right now – to end cancer, and I do believe it’s important to aggressively pursue better diagnostics, treatments and lifelong follow-through for all types of cancer.

But, right now, I’m just thinking about the human factor. All the names (and faces) we’ve lost.

I started blogging as a letter to my son because, given my history (and my family’s history) with cancer, I wanted to give him something that would stay with him, some small consolation. But, I also firmly believe that cancer is NOT all.

• Cancer can’t take family. Yes, we’ve experienced loss, but at times like this, we see family come together. We realize – perhaps more than ever – what we mean to one another. And, we see how precious our community of family and friends really is.
• Cancer can’t take experience. We still have the memories of what we’ve shared. Those we’ve lost have left marks on our lives. We will never be the same.
• Cancer can’t take hope. I know the idea of hope is such an elusive concept. How do we define that thing that (for some) is the very reason for carrying on? Hope that things will get better … that the loss will mean something … and that (somehow) tomorrow will be a better day.

I’m still figuring it out as I go along. I’m a newbie as a father, and I often feel that my son is teaching me more than I ever could impart to him.

I want him to know, though, that he’s stronger than he knows, and he can survive any losses that he will experience though I will fight to the death to protect him from any pain I can spare him.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

St. Louis native Don Jackson is co-founder of the Albuquerque Dads Group. The three-time cancer survivor is a father of two. A version of this first appeared on his blog, Daddy Newbie.

Main photo: © Vasyl / Adobe Stock.

April is Testicular Cancer Awareness month. And, the men’s health advocates of The Movember Foundation want guys to get to “Know Thy Nuts.”

About 70,000 men in the world annually receive a diagnosis of cancer of the testicles. According to the Mayo Clinic, it’s the most common cancer found in American males between ages 15 and 35.

The good news: It’s still fairly rare, making up only 1% of all male tumors. More good news: When discovered early on in a man, it is highly treatable and the survival rate is 95%. The bad news: Most of those guys most vulnerable to the disease don’t know how to check their boys downstairs.

Online tool to help Know Thy Nuts

The Movember Foundation, a leading global organization dedicated to bringing awareness to serious health concerns for men, has created the Nuts & Bolts online tool to help dudes learn the essentials about testicular cancer. This includes:

• how to check for and recognize changes in one’s testicles
• what to do if you do notice something odd down there
• other symptoms to watch for
• what to expect if you go to the doctor for a checkup down under
• a community Q&A to help take the fear and mystery out of receiving a diagnosis
• what a diagnosis means for your sex life and chances of fathering a child later on

The Nuts & Bolts tool can even hook you up with a testicular cancer survivor to help guide you through your own treatment and recovery if you are diagnosed.

The vast majority of guys won’t find something wrong with their testicles, The Movember Foundation notes. However, the campaign stresses it’s important for men to check down there regularly. According to their website, about 70 percent of men don’t regularly give themselves a feel down there to see if everything is in order.

City Dads Group has regularly supported The Movember Foundation on its mission to make men more aware of health issues specific to their gender, such as prostate cancer, mental health issues and suicide. This includes its signature event: the November growing of mustaches to raise awareness and money for research.

Possible testicular cancer risk factors

• Undescended testicles at birth.
• Being related to someone who’s had testicular cancer.
• Having had testicular cancer before.
• Race and ethnicity – risk is higher in the United States and Europe, and lower in Africa and Asia.
• Common symptoms: Lump or swelling in testicle area; dull ache in abdomen or groin

Want to help save a man’s life? Help us raise some cash by growing a ‘stache with our dads next month during Movember 2021.

City Dads Group again is seeking members and friends to help us support The Movember Foundation, a leading global organization dedicated to bringing awareness to serious health concerns for men such as testicular cancer, prostate cancer, mental health and suicide.

Movember challenges dudes every November to spark conversations about men’s physical and mental health issues. The growing of a mustache is meant to serve as a living awareness ribbon and talking point for the cause. In recent years, the Movember Foundation has also added an exercise challenge for the facial-hair challenged.

+ Join our Movember 2021 team +

The Movember Foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars since its founding in 2003 to help fund hundreds of health projects globally, according to its website. The organization’s work hopes to counter some of these frightening statistics regarding men’s health:

• Men, on average, die five years earlier than women in the United States.
• One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lives.
• Four of every five suicides are men.
• Testicular cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men ages 18 to 39.

City Dads Group is once again joining forces with the Life of Dad social network, the Dad 2.0 fatherhood conference and The National At-Home Dad Network to form a “Movember Dads” team. The group combined to raise more than $10,000 last year.

You can help our Movember 2021 team and the cause in several ways:

• Join the Movember Dads team. Sign up through our Movember Dads page. You’ll get your own personal fundraising page to link other to.
• Grow a mustache. Shave your mug on Oct. 31 and then don’t cut the fuzz off your upper lip for 31 days. Show it off to all, in person and on social media, and tell them why you are growing it. Don’t forget to ask for a donation to help the cause and link to your fundraising page.
• Move rather than mo. Sometime you just can’t grow a mustache. Maybe it’s genetics, maybe it’s because it would jeopardize your marriage. You can still help by committing to walk or run 60 miles in November — one mile for each of the 60 men lost worldwide every hour to suicide. Again, use your personal Movember Dads page for fundraising.
• Host a Mo-ment. Get with your Movember supporters — in person or virtually — for a game night, a sporting event or maybe an initial “shave off” to get the ball rolling and draw attention to the cause.
• Donate. At the least, you can always simply give to the cause. Donate to an individual or to our Movember Dads team as a whole.

City Dads Group, starting in 2011 with its founding NYC Dads chapter, has helped raise more than $133,000 to support the Movember Foundation and its partners.

Pediatric cancer is in the sights of City Dads Group this June as we team with the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) to raise money to help find a cure.

City Dads Group chapters in a dozen cities from coast-to-coast will set up stands between June 2 and 10 to sell lemonade and take donations to go to the national nonprofit’s work funding research to find better treatments and cures for childhood cancer.

Details, including times and locations for each group’s event this year, will be made available on the City Dads Group’s ALSF fundraising page or on the group’s Meetup page (see list below).

City Dads Group previously raised funds with Alex’s Lemonade Stand in 2016, but this year’s model should be even sweeter thanks to our ongoing partnership with Plum Organics. The nation’s leading organic baby food brand is helping our chapters out with supplies for their stands, and will provide snacks and samples for patrons.

• Boston – June 8
• Charlotte – June 4
• Chicago – June 9
• Dallas – June 9
• Fresno, Calif. – June 7
• Kansas City – June 2
• Los Angeles- June 10
• Madison, Wisc. – June 8
• New York City – June 5
• Portland, Ore. – June 9
• San Francisco – June 2
• Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul), Minn – June 2

NYC Dads Group sweetens the fight against pediatric cancer next month by joining City Dads Group chapters across the country to raise money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF).

Local dads will set up a stand at 3 p.m., June 5, at Ruppert Tower Street Corner, at 1601 Third Ave., in Manhattan., to sell lemonade for $1 a cup. All proceeds go to ALSF, a national nonprofit that works to  fund research into better treatments and cures for childhood cancer.

NYC Dads Group previously raised funds through an Alex’s Lemonade Stand in 2016, but this year’s model should be even tastier, thanks to our ongoing partnership with Plum Organics. The nation’s leading organic baby food brand is helping our chapters out with supplies for their stands, and will provide snacks and samples for patrons.

• Boston – June 8
• Charlotte – June 4
• Chicago – June 9
• Dallas – June 9
• Fresno, Calif. – June 7
• Kansas City – June 2
• Los Angeles– June 10
• Madison, Wisc. – June 8
• Portland, Ore. – June 9
• San Francisco – June 2
• Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul), Minn – June 2

Editor’s Note: On July 16, 12 fathers completed a hike across England along Hadrian’s Wall to raise money for a nonprofit camp that helps children of adults with cancer. Atlanta Dads Group member Michael Moebes was one of them, and here he chronicles the experience.

Last week, we completed our much-anticipated walk from the Irish Sea to the North Sea along Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. It was the second life experience (the first one being going to war) I’ve had which I can now describe with the phrase, “I probably wouldn’t choose to do it again, but I wouldn’t take anything for the experience of having gone.”

Our journey began with a Friday night cookout in the backyard of our late friend Oren Miller‘s wife’s aunt, followed by a trip to the pub where he and his wife, Beth, met. Given the reason for our walk was to raise money for a Camp Kesem location at his alma mater in his honor, this seemed altogether fitting and proper. My children opened beer cans for extra pence, alternating between delighting and horrifying everyone, depending on the kids’ level of persistence (and begging).

We took a train from London to Carlisle the next morning and, after sleeping on a cot in an old gymnasium Saturday night, we shoved off for our trek from the Solway Firth at Bowness-on-Solway to Carlisle, assuming we’d stop soon for breakfast, but “soon” became 4+ hours and many miles, and I’ve never been happier to see a “Greyhound” sign (this one being a pub, not a bus depot), so we could finally sit down and have beers and food (in that order of importance).

We pressed on toward Carlisle, across pastures full of sheep, over gates, through tall grass, and finally into the city where we’d get nice beds to sleep in at the Ibis hotel on Sunday night. My Fitbit Blaze showed 40,000 steps for the day – over 17 miles. We gathered at The Griffin for dinner and some European football (interrupted by the drunken rants of a local woman, who insisted I should have “been there for her” in 1952 – this delighted my companions but mortified your storyteller).

The next morning (Monday), we bought foot care supplies, stopped by Carlisle Cathedral, and continued along the path.

Day 2 concluded at Sandysike farm, run by a nice couple who fed us and offered me whisky for my tired, post-30,000-steps-that-day feet, and I loved him for it.

Only the next day did I learn every shot cost £4.  My love dwindled a bit.

Finally seeing Hadrian’s Wall

Day 3 (Tuesday) promised to finally allow us to see remains of the Hadrian’s Wall, as so far, we walked the of path, but the stones themselves had been taken to build homes and cathedrals or whatever else the English wanted to do with Roman wall stones once they were no longer under Roman rule. I was excited.

Each day, we wore wooden name tags like the kids at Camp Kesem wear, and on the tags, we honored persons selected by donors of $100 or more of sponsorship.  The start of the wall seemed a good place for a lunch break and photographs, so we took advantage of it.

It was 30,000+ steps and was my favorite day of hiking thus far, since we had wall to look at and rolling hills to climb with the start of some great views from atop (little did I know how much this would improve on subsequent days). We stopped at our B&B/bunk house, and I was one of the lucky few to have a room with an attached shower (and, even better, the innkeeper did laundry for us!).  The next morning would be the first day of new topography–crags.

Beautiful but rainy

I loved hiking on day 4 (Wednesday). The scenery was the best we’d seen so far along Hadrian’s Wall, and it was our lowest day of mileage – under 10 miles (just over 21,000 steps), which seemed comparatively easy. Perhaps even lazy!

But then it started to rain. We were used to rain showers, but this day’s rain wasn’t a shower–it was torrential.  Because it was also our first day of significant hills, the group started to fracture into smaller groups after a bit, with a few folks electing to walk to the side of the steep inclines later in the day. This meant the water rushed at them from atop the rolling hills in the crags.  This photo only captures a portion of the misery:

I pulled up my hood, pulled the rain cover over my backpack, and continued along the wall in utter misery, as I quickly learned my “water resistant” hiking pants were not very resistant, and sheets of water poured down my legs and filled my socks and boots. I saw hikers coming toward me slip and fall down the crags I had to climb; I was glad I sprung for the hiking poles that were on sale at REI right before I left.

Eventually, the rain let up, and we broke off the wall path and headed south, completely fortuitously ending up at bunkhouse where we were slated to sleep. Everyone was drenched and miserable, but we made our way just up the street to the Twice Brewed Inn pub for some dinner and spirits, and when we walked outside, a double rainbow greeted us.

Steeper and steeper

Day 5 (Thursday) was physically harder, but it was my favorite day of the hike so far (and favorite of the entire hike, now that I have the benefit of hindsight). We climbed the steepest crags (even seeing an obelisk marking the highest point of the entire Hadrian’s Wall path), saw numerous milecastles and an old Roman temple, and stopped for pictures in the most photographed area of the path – Sycamore Gap (where scenes from Kevin Costner’s “Robin Hood” were shot).

The day ended at just under 14 miles (31,000 steps), and we stayed at Greencarts Farm for the night. After dinner, I won all the English equivalent of Chex mix that any of my opponents had in a very intense poker match.

Day 6 (Friday) was to be the longest and most difficult day of the Hadrian’s Wall walk. We left the crags fairly early in the day, and we crossed fields and pastures as we paralleled the old Military Road leading to Newcastle.

We started early, encountered some rain, and stopped just after noon at Errington Arms pub for a meal (and whisky shots) before pressing on toward the Robin Hood pub, built in 1752 from stones “borrowed” from Hadrian’s Wall, and eventually The Three Tuns for dinner and more whisky before we reached our quarters for the evening at Houghton North Farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall. When I sat down at the Three Tuns about 6:30pm, my legs, hips, and ankles were in agony. I had no desire to walk any further. We’d gone more than 20 miles–almost 44,000 steps. The next day would be our last day of the Hadrian’s Wall walk.

The final 40,000 steps

The final day (Saturday) meant more walking east along Military Road, but at some point, we were supposed to get into Newcastle upon Tyne, and that would mean we were near the end.

Seeing the river was the first sign of progress toward the end, and a few miles later, we entered the city, stopping for a meal about 1 p.m. More whisky was involved; my feet and legs were screaming.

We continued along the city sidewalks, and then Emperor Hadrian himself greeted us to tell us we were close.

We paused and regrouped for the last mile to the Segedunum fort – the end point. It was obviously going to be another 40,000+ step day.

Finally, we came to the fort and the stone that marked the eastern edge of Hadrian’s Wall. Jeff broadcast our walk’s conclusion live on Facebook. Brent placed Oren’s hat on the chunk of wall marking the end point (he’d carried it with him every day of the walk), and a couple guys placed wooden name tags bearing his name next to the cap:

I’ve seen on TV sometimes when people finish a marathon or an Iron Man competition, they shed tears from joy or relief or something, but I’ve never experienced it personally as either a viewer or a participant. But after walking 100 miles over seven days – nearly 40 of them the last 2 days – and seeing that chunk of stone with Oren’s cap on it, I’m pretty sure all of us wept; some, inconsolably. We were almost at our goal of $40,000 raised; we were all 12 together after having a few days where one or more of us was too injured to participate; we’d finished a quest that we’d discussed and planned and anticipated for over a year. Now it was over.

At almost midnight that night, we reached $40,000–the amount needed to finance a Camp Kesem at the University of Maryland. We met our goal in both distance and dollars. The quest truly was finished.

And all of us are better men for having participated.

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If you supported us during this walk, we greatly and sincerely appreciate it!  If you didn’t, it’s not too late – every $500 given above the $40,000 to set up the camp will go toward sending a child to camp there, so let the philanthropy continue! Here’s the link: dads4kesem.org.

A version of this first appeared on Dadcation.

Several members of the NYC Dads Group, kids in tow, will take a stroll through Central Park Tuesday, July 12, in a show of solidarity for a dozen fathers trekking across England to raise money for a camp for the children of cancer patients.

Our NYC outpost joins the Chicago and Detroit chapters of City Dads Group in rallying local fathers to help with the $1,000 contribution our organization has pledged to raise as a sponsor of the week-long Dads4Kesem hike in the United Kingdom. That UK walk hopes to raise $40,000 for Camp Kesem, a nonprofit offering free summer camps and other events for the 3 million children nationwide affected by a parent battling cancer.

The “Walking Dads” are hiking along England’s Hadrian’s Wall, a 84-mile fortification built in the first century A.D. that once marked the northernmost point of the Roman Empire. The goal of the July 10-16 journey is raising money to open a Camp Kesem chapter on the campus at the University of Maryland. The school is near the home of fellow dad blogger Oren Miller, who succumbed to lung cancer in 2015.

“Oren Miller was a friend to dad bloggers around the world. He was a great organizer, a great writer, and more importantly, a great dad,” NYC Dads Group member Jason Greene, one of the 12 “Walking Dads” on the hike, recently wrote on his blog. “I owe a lot to Oren and the rest of the dad blogging community.”

** Read about the Camp Kesem walk **