I was recently approached by a fellow blogger, Missy's Manicures about doing a manicure in honor of Movember, a campaign to raise awareness for men's cancer. Specifically testicular and prostate cancers. I have chosen to do a manicure in light blue, the colour of prostate cancer awareness.
According to the American Cancer Society prostate cancer is the second deadliest form of cancer to men, behind lung cancer. Approximately 271,400 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 2012, of them about 28,170 men will die. Early detection and treatment is crucial; when the cancer is localized or contained within the prostate or regional, meaning some spread outside the prostate but no lymph node involvement, rate of successful treatment is nearly 100%. In cases where the cancer has spread or metastasized the overall survival rate drops to only 29%. The 15 year survival rate for men diagnosed and successfully treated is about 91%.
My dad was diagnosed with stage four metastatic prostate cancer in September of 2007 and we lost him a year later.
It is my hope that through increased awareness and education, more men will get regular exams and those who have prostate cancer will be diagnosed early and receive successful treatment and fewer men will have to die from this terrible disease.
In honor of my dad, I did a simple, pretty manicure in light blue with a subtle linear holographic shimmer. I tested a lot of ideas on nail wheels; stamping, funky French tips, ribbons, mustaches. In the end, I knew that while pretty, none of them were right. My dad wasn't one for excess ornamentation. He liked beautiful things with clean lines, sleek, simple and pure of form and function. He wasn't into ribbons to symbolize causes. I think that this feels most "like" him. :)
This is two coats of Wet-N-Wild Bird Bath topped with a coat of OPI What's Dune? and Seche Vite.
If you would like to do a manicure for Movember and share your work you can do it here. Feel free to leave a link to your Movember manicure in a comment (on this post only, please). I'd love to see them.
Please encourage the men in your lives to see their doctor and have the proper screening exams. Prostate and testicular cancers, when caught early, treated properly and given a little luck can be cured and a man can live a long and healthy life after diagnosis and treatment and perhaps fewer wives, partners, sisters and daughters will have to mourn the loss of a man they love.
If you are wondering why I didn't do a manicure for Breast cancer Awareness Month in October, it is because I did that last year and this year I did Movember. Neither is less important to me, I just have my way of doing things.
Thank you so much for popping in and reading. Have a terrific day and may your polish never bubble.
