Ioannis Papadimitriou
I ran over 60 km in November to raise people’s awareness that men’s biggest weakness is actually trying not to show any weakness at all. We need to move from “man up” to “speak up”.
November 2022 drew to a close last week, and we wanted to take the opportunity to mark the end of the annual Movember movement at Vortexa, a time that we and others dedicate to changing the face of men’s mental and physical health.
The Movember movement is a chance for all of us to focus on Men’s Mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer – it’s our opportunity to take them all on.
Men’s health is in crisis. Men are dying on average 4.5 years earlier than women and for largely preventable reasons. A growing number of men – around 10.8M globally – are facing life with a prostate cancer diagnosis.
Globally, testicular cancer is the most common cancer among young men.
And across the world, one man dies by suicide every minute of every day, with males accounting for 69% of all suicides.
Vortexa’s Motexa Team used Movember as not only a fundraising opportunity but a way to engage men across our teams, families, and friends in crucial conversations about improving their own well-being & health, raise awareness of mens’ mental and physical health and of course have lots of fun in the process.
Motexa Pub Quiz
Fundraising, alongside raising awareness for men’s health projects plays a huge role in the Movember cause. This is where our team of Motexans, their moustaches, and Movember Movers came in! Several team members (we like to call them ‘Motexans) grew moustaches in support of the cause, and others who were more follicly challenged walked, ran, baked cakes and organised a pub quiz, raising donations of over £3,330. With Vortexa vowing to match the number of all donations, we successfully hit our personal target of netting over £6,000 for this incredible cause.
We asked some of our Motexan team what the initiative means to them and why getting involved in Movember is so important…
Sophie Hart
I have a few motivations for taking part in Movember and being an ambassador.
Most importantly is the causes they support – three of my close relatives are either in full remission, still battling or recently confronting the news of having prostate cancer. Ideally they’d all be in remission, but there is a journey to get there, and any support and good news they’re able to receive makes the journey a little less scary. The success rates are improving thanks to the research in this area.
Support for men’s mental health is also important to me. I really feel like the world is progressing (thanks to causes like Movember), with people speaking more freely about the reality of things like depression and addiction – there is a safe space for people to ask for more formal help, or even just talk about how they’re feeling. This can be the difference between feeling hopeless and alone or knowing that life is worthwhile and there are people who genuinely care and want to help. This open environment is what I hope all the men in my life feel like they have access to, and the world I’d like my son to experience.
My motivation, specifically for becoming an ambassador is because of the genuine traction it has as a campaign. I saw this first hand about 10 years ago in Australia – I worked for an IT consulting firm with a large percentage of male colleagues. It seemed like a fun way to raise funds, awareness and be a bit of a culture building exercise, and at the end of the month we had raised AU$10k. A colleague of mine also won Australia’s best mo that year (with a moustache that went from under his nose, down to his stomach and swirled around his nipples). Who knew that humour and a mo could inspire so greatly. While I can’t grow a mo myself, if I feel like there’s a chance to really make a difference, I want to help make it happen.
Nat Day
Every year I look forward to Movember as it provides an opportunity to spread awareness about men’s health. As someone who has had mental health issues in the past, I think it’s great that Movember encourages young men to open up and talk about the problems they are facing. Only through conversations like these we will reduce this stigma associated with men’s mental health.
Vickie Shoesmith
I’m participating in the Vortexa challenge to support a family friend who is dealing with prostate cancer – and to raise awareness of how regular health checks can save lives.
Since 2003, Movember has funded more than 1,250 men’s health projects around the world, challenging the status quo, shaking up research and motivating men to take action for their health.
Vortexa is proud to play a small part in this amazing movement and would like to thank everyone who donated to our Motexans!
If you would like to join the global community raising awareness for men’s mental and physical health, and learn more about the stats we’ve shared visit https://uk.movember.com/
Check out our dedicated Motexa fundraising page here It’s never too late to donate!
