The dashing fellow on the far left is my Uncle Don.

We all have an Uncle Don, you know the Uncle who is slightly kooky…and a bit non-PC, who likes to tell it like it is and occasionally calls the waitress at a restaurant “sweetie”, yeah that kinda guy (but you love him for it all the same).  

I really only get to see Uncle Don and the rest of my extended family every year around Canadian Thanksgiving when they usually host a family reunion, it’s also when we get to chat and meet all the new spouses (but that’s another story).  

This year it was a bit different, you see my Uncle and Aunt went with my parents on an extended cruise in September and the plan was to have them all back in Canada by the end of September so that we could meet again for Thanksgiving.  That plan didn’t go as well as we had hoped.

About part way through the cruise my Uncle started to feel not at all well.  He had extreme cold and flu symptoms and was feeling very very weak.  By the time that the boat docked in Rome it was difficult for him to exit and even more so to get on a plane and head to visit some family in Scotland.  

It wasn’t long after that we learned that Uncle Don had been admitted to hospital in Scotland with what the Docs thought initially was pneumonia.  After a few tests they determined that it was in fact stage 4 Non-hodgkins Lymphoma.  

Now I know Movember is not about raising awareness for Lymphoma, it’s supposed to be all about raising awareness of Prostate Cancer, but here are some of the appalling stats on Men’s Cancer overall in Canada.

Approximately 93,000 Canadian men will be diagnosed  with cancer, and an estimated 39,900 men will die of cancer.

Prostate cancer accounts for over a quarter (27%) of new cancer cases in men.

40% of Canadian women and 45% of men will develop cancer during their lifetimes. 

An estimated 1 out of every 4 Canadians is expected to die from cancer.

Luckily my Uncle is responding well to treatment and is expected to survive for some time to come but a lot of good men were lost to cancer in 2011.

But besides these obvious and very upsetting deaths, well we all have an Uncle Don.  So please take the time today to donate to Movember Canada….because tomorrow it might be you, or someone you love that is diagnosed, and you’ll want the very best in treatment.

You can also donate directly in the side bar of this blog.

Happy 11-11-11