Raj Kumar, a consultant stroke physician with Ainstree University Hospital in Liverpool, lives in a seaside village called Ainsdale with his wife Sarah, his children—Hannah, Emilyand Tom 13—and two dobermanns (Bailey and Maisie).
Why does he believe in Movember?
“Statistics show that men have a distinctive behavioural reaction to illness. While—anecdotally speaking—men tend to overreact and think they are ‘dying’ when they have a simple cold, (I certainly do! and my wife will confirm this if you wish to check with her!), statistics show that men are far less likely than women to report symptoms of serious and sinister illnesses like cancer. It’s almost an ostrich-like ‘head in the sand’ phenomenon. Hence, the diagnosis of cancer is delayed in men and this results in increased deaths and poorer outcomes to treatment.
The aim of Movember (when we grow our moustaches for the month of November and look ridiculous and annoy our women folk!) is to highlight this and to raise awareness among men about the importance of reporting any symptoms of male cancer, particularly Testicular and Prostate cancer. Similar campaigns in the past—regarding breast cancer awareness in women—led to increasing number of women examining themselves and reporting symptoms early, which resulted in a rise in early diagnoses and better outcomes.”
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Photo: Raj Kumar
Good Rajkumar and Susheel Menon