August 5, 2025 • 19 mins
Aired June 15, 2025:I wanted to put a spotlight on the importance on Men’s Health Issues and the Movember Foundation does it SO WELL. Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of Men's Health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. But they emphasize of the importance of these issues YEAR ROUND and how to encourage US to help the men in our lives take ACTION and do something about it!!
In this podcast, Lisa Foxx talked to Brian Heilman. He's the US head of research on men’s health, for the foundation and he’s also a brand new dad himself!
Here's the break down of the MAIN areas of focus:
Mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer...
How does the Movember Foundation get folks to rally around these issues and get men more involved in their own health, to CARE ABOUT and do something about their health issues? We discuss it.
Brian is also the lead researcher of their new Movember Institute of Men’s Health Through the institute, they’re launching deep dive reports into men’s health across the U.S., including on why men die nearly 6 years (5.8) earlier than women on average, and what we can do to about it.
By encouraging men (whom the charity refers to as "Mo Bros") to get involved, Movember aims to increase early cancer detection, .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}
In this podcast, Lisa Foxx talked to Brian Heilman. He's the US head of research on men’s health, for the foundation and he’s also a brand new dad himself!
Here's the break down of the MAIN areas of focus:
Mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer...
How does the Movember Foundation get folks to rally around these issues and get men more involved in their own health, to CARE ABOUT and do something about their health issues? We discuss it.
Brian is also the lead researcher of their new Movember Institute of Men’s Health Through the institute, they’re launching deep dive reports into men’s health across the U.S., including on why men die nearly 6 years (5.8) earlier than women on average, and what we can do to about it.
By encouraging men (whom the charity refers to as "Mo Bros") to get involved, Movember aims to increase early cancer detection, .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, Hi, there is Lisa Fox and this is
(00:01):
the iHeart So Cal Show. Happy Father's Day, Happy Father's
Day to all of you wonderful dad's and father figures
out there.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you for all that you do.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And because it's Father's Day, I wanted to put a
spotlight on the importance of men's health issues and the
November Foundation does it so well year round, but especially
especially in the month of November aka Movember. November is
an annual event involving the growing of mustaches during the
month of November. We'll talk all about that, but it's
all about raising awareness of men's health issues like prostate cancer,
(00:35):
testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide prevention. But they emphasize
on the importance of these issues year round and how
to encourage us to help men take action to do
something about it. So on to tell us more is
Brian Heilmann. Hi, Brian, Happy Father's Day.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much. This is
my first Father's Day as a dad.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I love that. Congratulations. What do we have a boy? Greg?
A little what?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Who do you have to have a baby? Daughter?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
What's your name?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Her name is emon Emon?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Oh, what a beautiful name.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Love it, love it yours. Doesn't it feel so special?
Your first Father's Day is a dad That's so cool?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Honestly, yes, yes, completely, thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
You've got twenty five years to really mess it up. No,
I'm kidding, No, you're not going to do that. You
guys are going to be great.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Brian. You're also the head of.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Research for the November Foundation for for about a year now.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Right, yep, that's right, but having been a lot of
research on ment sealf issues before that too, so that's.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Been kind of your specialty for a while now.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, then you're going to understand why. A huge reason
as to why I wanted to do this on Father's
Day is because I'll just say it, my boyfriend of
five years is just a prime example, and you know,
we're at a certain age where it's always important to care.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
About your health.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
I just think I'm not being sexist here, but women
we just do things differently. And I'm so on top
of all my appointments and my annual appointments. They're scheduled
out for years to come, okay, and men, on the
other hand, I'm like having to crack the whip on
Eric all the time, and my honey, we have to
care about your callon how is your prostate?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Honey?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
We need to get your heart checked out, like all
the tests, honey, all the tests of stress tests, the EKG.
I mean, I'm just constantly getting them riled up because
we need to get the appointments we need to going.
What is it about men they don't want it? Why
don't they just pick up the phone and schedule the
doctor's appointments and just get it handled.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
What are we waiting for? This is important stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I mean, I think maybe I don't know Eric personally,
but I think maybe I could go a little bit
easier on him than that some of the men out
there listening. But you're definitely right. There is a trend
where guy's maybe a little bit more reticent to go
to the doctor to seek help, to really, you know,
be able to admit that, hey, I might need some help.
And there's a lot of reasons for that, right Like
growing up the generation I did, you always heard these
(02:56):
messages in society, from your dad, from your coaches, from
ever that you know, tough it up, shake it off.
You're kind of instructed as a man to man up
in a way where that means that you don't seek
help in these ways. I would say a little bit
that message has stopped and guys realize they need to
be taking care of themselves. And in November, we're trying
(03:17):
to think or kind of put forward a vision of
health that isn't just about solving problems either, Like you
don't need to be facing a specific health challenge in
order to go to the doctor or to talk to somebody.
Kind of think about what it would look like to
you to be really crushing it and thriving and feel healthy, yeah,
in all ways in your life, and let's pursue it
from that direction might be a little bit better than
(03:39):
the whip analogy.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
But you know, ye well, look and ultimately, and why
I say it like that is because we care and
we want our men. We want our men to be here.
You know, we want you to be here, to have
this amazing life together with your family. So I want
you here, and I don't want any surprises and a
lot of you know, we have to stay ahead of cancer.
We have to stay ahead of these things. So that's
(04:02):
why it's important to talk about it. It's important to schedule
your doctor's appointments and that's why I hammer him until
they're all all getting scheduled. This is the year finally
gonna get like a lot of the big stuff checked out.
But the main thing is is to let the men
in your family and the men in your life know
that it's okay to talk about it. It's okay to,
like you said, to reach out, and we just want
(04:22):
to know that you're gonna be healthy and you're gonna
be here for a while. So it's it's a win
win for everybody to get our guys to get more
involved and to know that it's okay to be more involved,
and it's okay to to you know, get on the
line with your doctor and just start. The way I
see it too is also I just like, honey, we
want to cross it off the list. Once you get
your prostate checked, you can cross it off the list.
Once you get your colon.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Checked, they'll be like, Okay, we'll see in seven years
you're you're looking good.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Then you worry less and stress less once you can
check these things off the list, right, totally.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, it's a virtuous cycling stress. You're just not worried.
That's gonna go better. On the blood pressure and on
the heart and suddenly, yeah, you're on that path towards
doing good and also means like I was talking about before.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, okay, Brian, and I love the story as to
how the November Foundation began and November again, it's a
huge month long thing that we're going to dive into.
It's in the month of November, but talk about November
and the movement behind it, because I love how it
all began in Australia with these guys.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I just I love this story.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And then wow, so proud of them that what they
started so many years ago has become a movement. November
it has become a movement. It's been great to watch
over the years.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Right, yeah, totally. Yeah. So like you, it seems like
you know the story. Well, it's a group of friends
in Melbourne, Australia. I like to imagine them, you know,
walking in from the ocean holding their surfboards in a
very ausy kind of scene, but you know, talking with
each other about help. But also where it landed on
was this kind of rank really that they challenged or
dare at each other to grow a mustache for the
(05:48):
month of November. And this was a time for this
particular group of guys, or maybe the mustache was not
the most resurgently fashionable facial hair as it is at
the moment. Yeah, so obviously why growing a palo facial
hair that they had never really done before. It prompted
conversations their friends, their families, their coworkers, whoever was saying, like,
hang on a sec let's put this thing on your lip,
(06:11):
and suddenly it's an opportunity to have a conversation. Right,
So that's really the genius of the campaign is something
as silly as a mustache makes it easy. It almost
like impels people to start up a conversation, and then
once the conversation is happening, you're able to talk about, Hey, well,
this is because I care about mental health, and to
me that means prostate cancer and testicular cancer and also
(06:32):
more broadly men's mental health and suicide prevention. These things
matter to me. I want my buddies and brothers and
dad and other men in my life to be around
as long as they can be and to have strong
relationships with them. I care about that. That's what this
musta is all about. And eventually that started to be
built into a charity where folks could donate, and the
(06:53):
guys raising mustaches would collect donations from their friends and
their communities. And the crazy thing is, twenty one years later,
this has become the largest charity in the world focused
on mental health issues. So I've been able to invest
millions of dollars and cancer treatments and you know, community
mental health programs and many other things.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
It's so wonderful. And dare I say so?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Mo?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
The word mo is kind of like slang for mustache, right,
It's like a slang term, right, you're roll.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
And y yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
And I got to say when November comes around, November,
they just they also have fun with it. And we've
had a bunch of radio hosts in this building do it,
variety of people at a variety of our iHeart stations
do this challenge before in for November. And essentially it's
almost better if you really can't grow in because it
looks so awful above your lip, but you commit to
(07:44):
doing it for thirty days for the month of November
and you raise money for your team.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
But like you said, like what is on your lip?
What are you trying to grow?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Oh gosh, But that you're doing it and you really
have to hold out for all thirty days, and the
fact that you do that exactly shows your commit meant
and also that you're not taking you know, it's okay
to poke a little fun at yourself because you're doing
it for a very important reason. And people post pictures
and they continue to show that the growth or lack
thereof the growth on their lip for the mustaches and
(08:14):
efforts of raising this money and raising this awareness. So it's,
dare I say, a fun way to draw attention to
some really important issues for men, health issues for men.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So it's a great idea, really.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So, Brian, why these specific areas mental health and suicide prevention,
prostate cancer and testicular cancer? Why these four main areas
that y'all focus on, right?
Speaker 3 (08:36):
I Mean, we do think of mental health in a
completely holistic way, but these four issues are going to
focus for us across the history of the organization, and
it's because there are specific health disparities that affect men
in all these domains. I mean, I think we would
all agree that mental health is an issue that affects
everybody regardless of gender. What we see when it comes
to men, as we've been talking about in this conversation
(08:56):
is when they're facing tough times mentally or emotion they're
a lot less likely to seek that help that they
need from their friends, from their community, from professional help.
And so that's how the mental health challenge becomes particularly
rough and the outcomes can become bad for men. And unfortunately,
in that domain, we're talking sometimes about a risk of suicide.
(09:17):
And the sad and scary thing is that men are
four times as likely to die by suicide as women are. Unfortunately,
we're seeing rates of suicide in the United States among
young men increasing over the past five or ten years.
So that's particularly concerning for us, and that's why we
have these campaign messages about we want you guys around,
we need you, we depend on you, there's beautiful life
(09:39):
ahead for you. Let's let's find a way through this.
And then prostate cancer is testicular cancer. You know, these
are cancers that affect men, and prostate cancer is a
leading cause of death, particularly in the black community or
community of men of African descent. So we're just really
encourage all guys by the age of fifty to talk
to their doctor about getting a prostate cancer and especially
(10:01):
for your black listeners or listeners from African descent. If
you're about forty, it's about time, right, And that's the
drains that I'm in already, So about forty, it's time.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
To check ten years earlier than if you're African American.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
WHOA, that's right, it's just if that's how the patterns work. Unfortunately,
it's really important to get in there. And the initial
check is not anything invasive. It's an easy blood test
and you can you can find out what your risk
levels might be.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Brian, I had a doctor on last week from City
of Hope, and you know, he specialized in a certain
number of cancers, including prostate, and he was saying, yeah,
I envision it'd be a physical exam for prostate, but no,
it is a blood test and you can look for
a certain level of something in the blood test specifically
to show if there's a potential for prostate cancer, right,
or explain how the blood test works.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
That's exactly right, Yeah, exactly right. It's called the PSA test.
If any listeners are curious, just look up PSA test
learn what it would be like. It's quite easy to
figure out your risk level and like you were saying
about your partner before, like, get the test, get a
piece of money, you know, yeah, and hopefully it'll be
positive or if you know, God forbid, it's a tougher result.
(11:06):
It's so important to have early detection because this cancer.
So once you know your test result, then you're on
a path. And so many I have to tell you
these are like so many of our November Champions are
guys who walked that path, like they got a scary
test result, but because they caught it early, they're able
to survive prostate cancer. And they found so much community
and support from the November community and from the resources.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
It can be treatable.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
And also again, if they catch prostate cancer early, you
can live a very healthy life without a portion of
your prostate. So they can cut the cancer part out
if they catch it early. Otherwise it can also be
a silent killer because by the time you have symptoms
for prostate cancer, it's probably too late. So that's where
you're going to stay on top of the stuff. Get
in front of it, get in front of it, and
(11:50):
then crossed off the list.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Right, you're a pretty convincing messenger. I'm surprised that you're
a partners.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I know you know we're too stubborn leos, so it's
probably it's more of it on the leout part because
he's such a sweetheart. But that's the only thing we
really even kind of bicker about is this stuff. But
it's going to happen this year, Brian is all. All
the tests are happening touch on testicular cancer and how
do we monitor that or how do we stay.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Ahead of that?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Right? And I mean we're talking about what age to
be aware of for prostly cancer, but testicular cancer, honestly,
I had to learn a lot about this more recently.
It's a cancer of young people, right, so it's more
often to be caught in teenage years or in your twenties.
So that's why November also has a lot of presence
on college campuses and trying to reach this community. So
it's an example of where we're reaching guys at different
(12:36):
stages of their lives, then making sure that you're doing
the kinds of checks that you need to do, talk
to talking to your doctor about it. Testicular cancer, by
comparison to prostly cancer, is very very treatable, survivable. There's
an amazing survival rate. It needn't be the scariest thing
in the world if you do happen to get that diagnosis.
But you know, checking yourself talking about a doctor, if
(12:58):
you feel something down there.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
So self exam sounds like it might be similar to
you know, women were supposed to do regular self exams
for our for you know, to stay ahead of breast cancer.
We do our own self exams on the regular and
then we do our annual with a doctor. Is it
similar to that for testicular cancer?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
That's exactly right. Okay, yep, that's exactly right. Just pay attention. Yep,
you got it exactly right.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Don't be afraid to feel around there. No, now I'm
getting to No. Two directable.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Hey, you gotta be hands on to stay ahead of
testicular cancer guys, just like guess ladies do to stay
ahead of breast cancer.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
So that's the way you gotta do it.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, So, how.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I know again, November in the month of November is
months away. But how do you all keep this you know,
keep this mission alive year round even though the lead
up is for the big month, the big fundraising month
of November. But what do you do in the rest
of the months to make sure people know this still
needs to be top of mind totally.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I mean, you can hear from these statistics I'm sharing
that we still need to get the word out, We
need to build awareness. We have ambassadors like yourself to
thank for getting the message out there at different points
of the year. Currently we're talking in the midst of
mental health weeks. So this week we have a whole
series of events, including a golf tournament, various different community
ducations that are happening. But I also, I mean a
(14:12):
lot of people don't even realize that this mustache trend
for the month in November has a nonprofit behind it.
Let alone that we're as big as we are, and
let alone that we're also doing our own independent research
into all of these different areas. So like when you
introduce me, is that my role is on the research side,
So year round, I'm using the funds being donated in
a small portion of them to try to get at
(14:33):
some of the root causes of these issues. What are
the ways that we can get guys to be more
likely to go seek help. What are the life saving
process and other cancer treatments that we need to be
investing in. What are the kinds of community programs that
young people need to have those skills of mental health
awareness and communication skills in them at young ages. And
that's that's where the money goes. And we are due
(14:54):
to the generosity that comes from that single month, we're
able to make impact year round.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
That's good to know. I love that.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
And then you mentioned a golf tournament and a few
other fundraisers happening right around this week for men's health issues.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
What's going on we're.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Speaking right now, Lisa in Men's Health Week. The week
leading up to Father's Day every year is Men's Health Week,
so it's a perfect time to have this opportunity on
your show. Thank you so much. We just held what
we call the Big Swing for men's health is a
golf tournament that happens in Pasadena every year that would
have just happened in your local listenership area, as well
as many other activations around the country.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And the best website to go to for all the
information about these important men's health issues that we're discussing,
all about the November Foundation, all about how you are
hopefully going to attempt to grow mustache for the big
fundraising month of November. Aka Movember and other ways of
fundraise and be a part of it all just going
to November dot com, November dot com.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
November dot com. And like Brian said, there are events
that happened year round that are fundraisers and to call
attention to this November movement of putting the focus on
these important, very important men's health issues. But also what
I love about November that whole month people are encouraged
to do their own to throw, have their own event,
host their own.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Totally, yes, exactly, and probably the key thing that your
listeners are taking is you don't need to be a
man to care about this, right like you have such
passionate care for this issue. I know we're talking a
lot about the mustaches, but you don't need to be
a mustache grower in order to get involved in a campaign.
So we have so many women who get involved in
the campaign for the month of November and every year. No,
they're not growing a mustache, but they're perhaps setting a
(16:30):
gold to run a certain number of miles, or they're
throwing their own fundraiser events, or we have folks who
kill whole festivals or concerts to raise money for us.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
It's incredible, so great and again November happening in the
month of November, but something we need to keep it
at the top, top top of our important importance list.
The men in our lives. We want them around. We
want them to be healthy and here to enjoy life
with us and with our families. So we need to
make sure that they are on top of their health.
(16:58):
And if we need to, here I go again, correct
the whip and make sure the doctor's appointments are scheduled.
We got to make it happen because it's important not
only to talk about these important issues, but to make
sure that they're getting in with the doctor and handling it. So,
you know, we can't self diagnosed. We can't self diagnose,
and lord knows when we google anything that scares you
know what out of us.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
So we shouldn't be our own doctors on doctors. Hey
when we say, oh I have googled it, I'm gonna die.
I'm gonna die.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
No, we need a schedule appointment with an actual doctor
and get checked out. And like I said, just cross
it off the list, you know, And these important areas
that November the November Foundation has found to be of
top importance and top concern for most men across the
country and worldwide.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Absolutely, men's health issues, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular
cancer all very important to stay on top of, stay
ahead of, and conquer. We got to work with our
men and make sure that we get this handled and
then we can also have a little fun with it
in the month of November by watching them try to
grow a mustache, also bring more attention and awareness to
(18:02):
this very very important issue. All the information at November
dot com, November dot com and then Brian, so is
it safe to say that you will be attending to
grow mustache this November? Oh?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yes, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Are you a mustache kind of a guy? Have you
had success in that area before?
Speaker 3 (18:18):
You know how you grow the beer throughout the year.
But it really is the rule, like the official November
approach is to shave everything down and then watch that
pitiful mustache up here day by day. And I rarely
get a real strong upper lip by the within the
course of the month. But that's part of the fun,
like you're saying.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, and I do recall now also at the end
of November, there's a lot of fun like shaving parties
and you're like, oh no, I can shave this ridiculous
caterpillar off the top of my lip. Shave it off
and then you have your real face back per se.
But you did a lot of good in thirty days
to conquer this issue, right, So, but the shaving parties
people have fun like yay yep. Well, Brian, Brian Holman
(18:57):
with the November Foundation, Head of Research on Men's Health,
thank you so much for all that you do in
the team there at the November Foundation, and we will
team up again in November for the big month, the
big fundraising month. But until then, wishing again, wishing all
of you amazing dads and father figures a wonderful happy
Father's Day right on.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Thank you, Lisa, Happy Father's Day. Thank you.
All right, Hi, there is Lisa Fox and this is
(00:01):
the iHeart So Cal Show. Happy Father's Day, Happy Father's
Day to all of you wonderful dad's and father figures
out there.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you for all that you do.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And because it's Father's Day, I wanted to put a
spotlight on the importance of men's health issues and the
November Foundation does it so well year round, but especially
especially in the month of November aka Movember. November is
an annual event involving the growing of mustaches during the
month of November. We'll talk all about that, but it's
all about raising awareness of men's health issues like prostate cancer,
(00:35):
testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide prevention. But they emphasize
on the importance of these issues year round and how
to encourage us to help men take action to do
something about it. So on to tell us more is
Brian Heilmann. Hi, Brian, Happy Father's Day.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much. This is
my first Father's Day as a dad.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I love that. Congratulations. What do we have a boy? Greg?
A little what?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Who do you have to have a baby? Daughter?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
What's your name?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Her name is emon Emon?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Oh, what a beautiful name.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Love it, love it yours. Doesn't it feel so special?
Your first Father's Day is a dad That's so cool?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Honestly, yes, yes, completely, thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
You've got twenty five years to really mess it up. No,
I'm kidding, No, you're not going to do that. You
guys are going to be great.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Brian. You're also the head of.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Research for the November Foundation for for about a year now.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Right, yep, that's right, but having been a lot of
research on ment sealf issues before that too, so that's.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Been kind of your specialty for a while now.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, then you're going to understand why. A huge reason
as to why I wanted to do this on Father's
Day is because I'll just say it, my boyfriend of
five years is just a prime example, and you know,
we're at a certain age where it's always important to care.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
About your health.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
I just think I'm not being sexist here, but women
we just do things differently. And I'm so on top
of all my appointments and my annual appointments. They're scheduled
out for years to come, okay, and men, on the
other hand, I'm like having to crack the whip on
Eric all the time, and my honey, we have to
care about your callon how is your prostate?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Honey?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
We need to get your heart checked out, like all
the tests, honey, all the tests of stress tests, the EKG.
I mean, I'm just constantly getting them riled up because
we need to get the appointments we need to going.
What is it about men they don't want it? Why
don't they just pick up the phone and schedule the
doctor's appointments and just get it handled.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
What are we waiting for? This is important stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I mean, I think maybe I don't know Eric personally,
but I think maybe I could go a little bit
easier on him than that some of the men out
there listening. But you're definitely right. There is a trend
where guy's maybe a little bit more reticent to go
to the doctor to seek help, to really, you know,
be able to admit that, hey, I might need some help.
And there's a lot of reasons for that, right Like
growing up the generation I did, you always heard these
(02:56):
messages in society, from your dad, from your coaches, from
ever that you know, tough it up, shake it off.
You're kind of instructed as a man to man up
in a way where that means that you don't seek
help in these ways. I would say a little bit
that message has stopped and guys realize they need to
be taking care of themselves. And in November, we're trying
(03:17):
to think or kind of put forward a vision of
health that isn't just about solving problems either, Like you
don't need to be facing a specific health challenge in
order to go to the doctor or to talk to somebody.
Kind of think about what it would look like to
you to be really crushing it and thriving and feel healthy, yeah,
in all ways in your life, and let's pursue it
from that direction might be a little bit better than
(03:39):
the whip analogy.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
But you know, ye well, look and ultimately, and why
I say it like that is because we care and
we want our men. We want our men to be here.
You know, we want you to be here, to have
this amazing life together with your family. So I want
you here, and I don't want any surprises and a
lot of you know, we have to stay ahead of cancer.
We have to stay ahead of these things. So that's
(04:02):
why it's important to talk about it. It's important to schedule
your doctor's appointments and that's why I hammer him until
they're all all getting scheduled. This is the year finally
gonna get like a lot of the big stuff checked out.
But the main thing is is to let the men
in your family and the men in your life know
that it's okay to talk about it. It's okay to,
like you said, to reach out, and we just want
(04:22):
to know that you're gonna be healthy and you're gonna
be here for a while. So it's it's a win
win for everybody to get our guys to get more
involved and to know that it's okay to be more involved,
and it's okay to to you know, get on the
line with your doctor and just start. The way I
see it too is also I just like, honey, we
want to cross it off the list. Once you get
your prostate checked, you can cross it off the list.
Once you get your colon.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Checked, they'll be like, Okay, we'll see in seven years
you're you're looking good.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Then you worry less and stress less once you can
check these things off the list, right, totally.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, it's a virtuous cycling stress. You're just not worried.
That's gonna go better. On the blood pressure and on
the heart and suddenly, yeah, you're on that path towards
doing good and also means like I was talking about before.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, okay, Brian, and I love the story as to
how the November Foundation began and November again, it's a
huge month long thing that we're going to dive into.
It's in the month of November, but talk about November
and the movement behind it, because I love how it
all began in Australia with these guys.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I just I love this story.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And then wow, so proud of them that what they
started so many years ago has become a movement. November
it has become a movement. It's been great to watch
over the years.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Right, yeah, totally. Yeah. So like you, it seems like
you know the story. Well, it's a group of friends
in Melbourne, Australia. I like to imagine them, you know,
walking in from the ocean holding their surfboards in a
very ausy kind of scene, but you know, talking with
each other about help. But also where it landed on
was this kind of rank really that they challenged or
dare at each other to grow a mustache for the
(05:48):
month of November. And this was a time for this
particular group of guys, or maybe the mustache was not
the most resurgently fashionable facial hair as it is at
the moment. Yeah, so obviously why growing a palo facial
hair that they had never really done before. It prompted
conversations their friends, their families, their coworkers, whoever was saying, like,
hang on a sec let's put this thing on your lip,
(06:11):
and suddenly it's an opportunity to have a conversation. Right,
So that's really the genius of the campaign is something
as silly as a mustache makes it easy. It almost
like impels people to start up a conversation, and then
once the conversation is happening, you're able to talk about, Hey, well,
this is because I care about mental health, and to
me that means prostate cancer and testicular cancer and also
(06:32):
more broadly men's mental health and suicide prevention. These things
matter to me. I want my buddies and brothers and
dad and other men in my life to be around
as long as they can be and to have strong
relationships with them. I care about that. That's what this
musta is all about. And eventually that started to be
built into a charity where folks could donate, and the
(06:53):
guys raising mustaches would collect donations from their friends and
their communities. And the crazy thing is, twenty one years later,
this has become the largest charity in the world focused
on mental health issues. So I've been able to invest
millions of dollars and cancer treatments and you know, community
mental health programs and many other things.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
It's so wonderful. And dare I say so?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Mo?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
The word mo is kind of like slang for mustache, right,
It's like a slang term, right, you're roll.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
And y yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
And I got to say when November comes around, November,
they just they also have fun with it. And we've
had a bunch of radio hosts in this building do it,
variety of people at a variety of our iHeart stations
do this challenge before in for November. And essentially it's
almost better if you really can't grow in because it
looks so awful above your lip, but you commit to
(07:44):
doing it for thirty days for the month of November
and you raise money for your team.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
But like you said, like what is on your lip?
What are you trying to grow?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Oh gosh, But that you're doing it and you really
have to hold out for all thirty days, and the
fact that you do that exactly shows your commit meant
and also that you're not taking you know, it's okay
to poke a little fun at yourself because you're doing
it for a very important reason. And people post pictures
and they continue to show that the growth or lack
thereof the growth on their lip for the mustaches and
(08:14):
efforts of raising this money and raising this awareness. So it's,
dare I say, a fun way to draw attention to
some really important issues for men, health issues for men.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So it's a great idea, really.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So, Brian, why these specific areas mental health and suicide prevention,
prostate cancer and testicular cancer? Why these four main areas
that y'all focus on, right?
Speaker 3 (08:36):
I Mean, we do think of mental health in a
completely holistic way, but these four issues are going to
focus for us across the history of the organization, and
it's because there are specific health disparities that affect men
in all these domains. I mean, I think we would
all agree that mental health is an issue that affects
everybody regardless of gender. What we see when it comes
to men, as we've been talking about in this conversation
(08:56):
is when they're facing tough times mentally or emotion they're
a lot less likely to seek that help that they
need from their friends, from their community, from professional help.
And so that's how the mental health challenge becomes particularly
rough and the outcomes can become bad for men. And unfortunately,
in that domain, we're talking sometimes about a risk of suicide.
(09:17):
And the sad and scary thing is that men are
four times as likely to die by suicide as women are. Unfortunately,
we're seeing rates of suicide in the United States among
young men increasing over the past five or ten years.
So that's particularly concerning for us, and that's why we
have these campaign messages about we want you guys around,
we need you, we depend on you, there's beautiful life
(09:39):
ahead for you. Let's let's find a way through this.
And then prostate cancer is testicular cancer. You know, these
are cancers that affect men, and prostate cancer is a
leading cause of death, particularly in the black community or
community of men of African descent. So we're just really
encourage all guys by the age of fifty to talk
to their doctor about getting a prostate cancer and especially
(10:01):
for your black listeners or listeners from African descent. If
you're about forty, it's about time, right, And that's the
drains that I'm in already, So about forty, it's time.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
To check ten years earlier than if you're African American.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
WHOA, that's right, it's just if that's how the patterns work. Unfortunately,
it's really important to get in there. And the initial
check is not anything invasive. It's an easy blood test
and you can you can find out what your risk
levels might be.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Brian, I had a doctor on last week from City
of Hope, and you know, he specialized in a certain
number of cancers, including prostate, and he was saying, yeah,
I envision it'd be a physical exam for prostate, but no,
it is a blood test and you can look for
a certain level of something in the blood test specifically
to show if there's a potential for prostate cancer, right,
or explain how the blood test works.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
That's exactly right, Yeah, exactly right. It's called the PSA test.
If any listeners are curious, just look up PSA test
learn what it would be like. It's quite easy to
figure out your risk level and like you were saying
about your partner before, like, get the test, get a
piece of money, you know, yeah, and hopefully it'll be
positive or if you know, God forbid, it's a tougher result.
(11:06):
It's so important to have early detection because this cancer.
So once you know your test result, then you're on
a path. And so many I have to tell you
these are like so many of our November Champions are
guys who walked that path, like they got a scary
test result, but because they caught it early, they're able
to survive prostate cancer. And they found so much community
and support from the November community and from the resources.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
It can be treatable.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
And also again, if they catch prostate cancer early, you
can live a very healthy life without a portion of
your prostate. So they can cut the cancer part out
if they catch it early. Otherwise it can also be
a silent killer because by the time you have symptoms
for prostate cancer, it's probably too late. So that's where
you're going to stay on top of the stuff. Get
in front of it, get in front of it, and
(11:50):
then crossed off the list.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Right, you're a pretty convincing messenger. I'm surprised that you're
a partners.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I know you know we're too stubborn leos, so it's
probably it's more of it on the leout part because
he's such a sweetheart. But that's the only thing we
really even kind of bicker about is this stuff. But
it's going to happen this year, Brian is all. All
the tests are happening touch on testicular cancer and how
do we monitor that or how do we stay.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Ahead of that?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Right? And I mean we're talking about what age to
be aware of for prostly cancer, but testicular cancer, honestly,
I had to learn a lot about this more recently.
It's a cancer of young people, right, so it's more
often to be caught in teenage years or in your twenties.
So that's why November also has a lot of presence
on college campuses and trying to reach this community. So
it's an example of where we're reaching guys at different
(12:36):
stages of their lives, then making sure that you're doing
the kinds of checks that you need to do, talk
to talking to your doctor about it. Testicular cancer, by
comparison to prostly cancer, is very very treatable, survivable. There's
an amazing survival rate. It needn't be the scariest thing
in the world if you do happen to get that diagnosis.
But you know, checking yourself talking about a doctor, if
(12:58):
you feel something down there.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
So self exam sounds like it might be similar to
you know, women were supposed to do regular self exams
for our for you know, to stay ahead of breast cancer.
We do our own self exams on the regular and
then we do our annual with a doctor. Is it
similar to that for testicular cancer?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
That's exactly right. Okay, yep, that's exactly right. Just pay attention. Yep,
you got it exactly right.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Don't be afraid to feel around there. No, now I'm
getting to No. Two directable.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Hey, you gotta be hands on to stay ahead of
testicular cancer guys, just like guess ladies do to stay
ahead of breast cancer.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
So that's the way you gotta do it.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, So, how.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I know again, November in the month of November is
months away. But how do you all keep this you know,
keep this mission alive year round even though the lead
up is for the big month, the big fundraising month
of November. But what do you do in the rest
of the months to make sure people know this still
needs to be top of mind totally.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I mean, you can hear from these statistics I'm sharing
that we still need to get the word out, We
need to build awareness. We have ambassadors like yourself to
thank for getting the message out there at different points
of the year. Currently we're talking in the midst of
mental health weeks. So this week we have a whole
series of events, including a golf tournament, various different community
ducations that are happening. But I also, I mean a
(14:12):
lot of people don't even realize that this mustache trend
for the month in November has a nonprofit behind it.
Let alone that we're as big as we are, and
let alone that we're also doing our own independent research
into all of these different areas. So like when you
introduce me, is that my role is on the research side,
So year round, I'm using the funds being donated in
a small portion of them to try to get at
(14:33):
some of the root causes of these issues. What are
the ways that we can get guys to be more
likely to go seek help. What are the life saving
process and other cancer treatments that we need to be
investing in. What are the kinds of community programs that
young people need to have those skills of mental health
awareness and communication skills in them at young ages. And
that's that's where the money goes. And we are due
(14:54):
to the generosity that comes from that single month, we're
able to make impact year round.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
That's good to know. I love that.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
And then you mentioned a golf tournament and a few
other fundraisers happening right around this week for men's health issues.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
What's going on we're.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Speaking right now, Lisa in Men's Health Week. The week
leading up to Father's Day every year is Men's Health Week,
so it's a perfect time to have this opportunity on
your show. Thank you so much. We just held what
we call the Big Swing for men's health is a
golf tournament that happens in Pasadena every year that would
have just happened in your local listenership area, as well
as many other activations around the country.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And the best website to go to for all the
information about these important men's health issues that we're discussing,
all about the November Foundation, all about how you are
hopefully going to attempt to grow mustache for the big
fundraising month of November. Aka Movember and other ways of
fundraise and be a part of it all just going
to November dot com, November dot com.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
November dot com. And like Brian said, there are events
that happened year round that are fundraisers and to call
attention to this November movement of putting the focus on
these important, very important men's health issues. But also what
I love about November that whole month people are encouraged
to do their own to throw, have their own event,
host their own.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Totally, yes, exactly, and probably the key thing that your
listeners are taking is you don't need to be a
man to care about this, right like you have such
passionate care for this issue. I know we're talking a
lot about the mustaches, but you don't need to be
a mustache grower in order to get involved in a campaign.
So we have so many women who get involved in
the campaign for the month of November and every year. No,
they're not growing a mustache, but they're perhaps setting a
(16:30):
gold to run a certain number of miles, or they're
throwing their own fundraiser events, or we have folks who
kill whole festivals or concerts to raise money for us.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
It's incredible, so great and again November happening in the
month of November, but something we need to keep it
at the top, top top of our important importance list.
The men in our lives. We want them around. We
want them to be healthy and here to enjoy life
with us and with our families. So we need to
make sure that they are on top of their health.
(16:58):
And if we need to, here I go again, correct
the whip and make sure the doctor's appointments are scheduled.
We got to make it happen because it's important not
only to talk about these important issues, but to make
sure that they're getting in with the doctor and handling it. So,
you know, we can't self diagnosed. We can't self diagnose,
and lord knows when we google anything that scares you
know what out of us.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
So we shouldn't be our own doctors on doctors. Hey
when we say, oh I have googled it, I'm gonna die.
I'm gonna die.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
No, we need a schedule appointment with an actual doctor
and get checked out. And like I said, just cross
it off the list, you know, And these important areas
that November the November Foundation has found to be of
top importance and top concern for most men across the
country and worldwide.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Absolutely, men's health issues, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular
cancer all very important to stay on top of, stay
ahead of, and conquer. We got to work with our
men and make sure that we get this handled and
then we can also have a little fun with it
in the month of November by watching them try to
grow a mustache, also bring more attention and awareness to
(18:02):
this very very important issue. All the information at November
dot com, November dot com and then Brian, so is
it safe to say that you will be attending to
grow mustache this November? Oh?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yes, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Are you a mustache kind of a guy? Have you
had success in that area before?
Speaker 3 (18:18):
You know how you grow the beer throughout the year.
But it really is the rule, like the official November
approach is to shave everything down and then watch that
pitiful mustache up here day by day. And I rarely
get a real strong upper lip by the within the
course of the month. But that's part of the fun,
like you're saying.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, and I do recall now also at the end
of November, there's a lot of fun like shaving parties
and you're like, oh no, I can shave this ridiculous
caterpillar off the top of my lip. Shave it off
and then you have your real face back per se.
But you did a lot of good in thirty days
to conquer this issue, right, So, but the shaving parties
people have fun like yay yep. Well, Brian, Brian Holman
(18:57):
with the November Foundation, Head of Research on Men's Health,
thank you so much for all that you do in
the team there at the November Foundation, and we will
team up again in November for the big month, the
big fundraising month. But until then, wishing again, wishing all
of you amazing dads and father figures a wonderful happy
Father's Day right on.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Thank you, Lisa, Happy Father's Day. Thank you.
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