Close shaves for Valley men end hair-raising Nov. cancer crusade

Staff report

AUSTINTOWN

Men from throughout the community who took part in “Movember” by growing and grooming their facial hair recently gathered at Partners for Urology Health in Austintown to celebrate the close of another successful campaign with a group shave-off.

Movember is a month-long campaign in which men who are normally clean-shaven grow and groom their mustaches to spark conversations about prostate cancer and the importance of age-appropriate screenings.

Screenings include a digital rectal examination and a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. Elevated PSA levels may indicate prostate cancer, a noncancerous condition such as prostatitis, or an enlarged prostate.

The local campaign was organized by Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley, Mercy Health Youngstown Cancer Centers, Man Up Mahoning Valley, N.E.O. Urology and Mercy Health Youngstown.

This year, more than 100 men officially took part in the Movember campaign, entering the ’Stache of the Week contests. Others, including several community leaders, took part in Movember activites by posing for photos to show off their facial hair, fake mustaches as well as their own, posting photos on Facebook, and most importantly, engaging their peers in conversations about the importance of routine prostate cancer screenings.

A handful of those participants gathered at Partners for Urology Health in Youngstown last week to show off the facial hair they’d been grooming all month, share how they’ve encouraged other men to discuss prostate-cancer screenings with their physicians and to have their whiskers shaved away by professional barbers from Excalibur Barber Grooming Lounge of Boardman.

Dan Knorr, nurse navigator at Partners for Urology Health, talks with patients every day about the importance of regular prostate cancer screenings.

“There aren’t any signs or symptoms, so it’s really important to get the digital rectal exam and the PSA,” Knorr said.

Knorr’s facial hair, a neatly groomed mustache and fringe on his chin, have been a fixture on his face for at least 40 years. So, he said, “Taking it off will definitely generate some conversation. My son’s 29, and he’s never seen me without it.”

Without hesitation, he allowed Kelan Bilal, owner and master barber at Excalibur Barber Grooming Lounge, to shave away his whiskers.

“We do this because prostate cancer is not something guys like to talk about,” Dr. Vince Ricchiuti, a partner at N.E.O. Urology, said.

“But it’s really important that they talk to their doctors about prostate-cancer screening. Prostate cancer is almost always curable if it’s caught early, and having age-appropriate screenings is the best way to find it,”

One in 7 American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives. More than 233,000 will be diagnosed this year and 29,480 of them will die.

According to Man Up Mahoning Valley, black men are twice as likely to get prostate cancer and to die from it as any other race.

Funds raised during the Movember campaign support free prostate cancer screenings for uninsured and underinsured men in the Mahoning Valley.