It is Movember – that month when men in those other countries wear a moustache to express their solidarity with those in the fight against cancer.
They endure the facial hair and parade it on social media to fundraise and raise awareness about cancer.
In Uganda, there have been a couple of cancer runs, drives and fundraising to facilitate cancer clinics and research. There has also been free cancer screening services. A few women I know of were taking the opportunity to get screened for cervical and breast cancer.
One friend wanted me to accompany her to the same. Later, an elderly friend also called to ask if I had gone for a screening… Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until I saw a call to fundraise for a family friend to go for cancer treatment in India. The patient is male.
Then it struck me that I had not heard a single man in my circles talk about going for any kind of cancer screening. None! So, I took it upon myself to ask a couple of them. Jokingly, they all recoiled at the prospect of having their bits handled by another man. Mbu that is intrusive!
Cancer is aggressive and unforgiving. It is not like HIV that you can fight back with ARVs at whatever stage it puts you down. Research has proven that the earlier cancer is detected, the higher the chances treatment will work.
But my dear brother would instead hold onto his dignity and die prematurely and undignified – because there is no dignity in a death that could have been prevented! I would rather you endure a few odd minutes of that ridiculous health check-up and live longer.
I don’t know everything that goes on during a prostate exam. However, I know there can be a blood test for some antigens and then there may be a lubricated finger going up the backside. Just one finger.
Yes, that must be discomforting, but it is not done in some backstreet in the dark by fumbling hands. It is done in a clinical environment by a professional; wearing gloves and possibly a mask! What then are you afraid of?
Do you want to know what women go through for cervical screening? If you know where the cervix is, and figure out what the doctor has to actually see, then your imagination can fill in the blanks. Yet still, we go by the droves. You will excuse us from privacy and dignity, at least for that moment!
But I will gladly tell you that prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men. Yep! Those bits you are guarding jealously are also your worst enemy.
Here is a catch: if you do not present them early enough for diagnosis, some day you might be handing them over to be dismembered completely. If that doesn’t get you running for a prostate cancer screening, I don’t know what will.