Meath men supporting Movember

Two Meath volunteers are part of the nationwide (Movember) campaign to help prevent men from dying too young.

Paul Byrne, Dunshaughlin and Keith Fox, Ashbourne will be rocking fine moustaches this Movember as they spread the message to men to look after their health.

The duo both have deeply personal reasons for supporting this year's Movember campaign which was launched last week alongside the news that a recent study showed that men in Ireland are dying too young of causes that are largely preventable. The report reveals that two in five (40.2 per cent) of all male deaths were premature and that men are 40 per cent more likely to die prematurely than women, across each of the five leading causes.

Comedian Keith Fox gives regular talks to mens groups but also likes to encourage his friends, colleagues and relatives to talk about men's health.

Keith was 23 and backpacking through Australia in 2009 when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. "I had been travelling around the world, I'd been in South America and New Zealand but was settling into Melbourne for a few months when I started to get low level pain in my lower abdomen. I decided that if it didn't go in a few days I would go the GP. I started looking up stuff on the internet and saw that lower abdomen pain can be linked to testicular cancer. So I checked my self and found a difference in firmness, but no lump.

"I went to my GP who initially thought it was an infection and was going to give me antibiotics to see if they would work, but because I was travelling I pushed for him to give me a scan and he arranged that. He rang me with the results and said that the scan had showed a growth, so I stayed another few days and then flew home."

Keith explains that when he arrived home to Ireland his surgery was delayed a few weeks because he had been travelling and the danger of deep vein thrombosis, but he had his surgery and was told there was a 50/50 chance his cancer would come back. He didn't need chemotherapy at that time but he would be monitored.

"Around five months later, my blood markers were up and they said my cancer was recurring so I had chemotherapy for nine weeks and it worked very quickly.

"You hear a lot of bad things about chemotherapy but while I did have some bad periods, I was well looked after by by medical team in Tallaght and Tullamore, where I was living at the time".

Following his treatment, Keith has had surveillance over the years, but the cancer never recurred.

While he had a testicle removed, he is now married with two children. He had to have a hip replacement as the steroids he was on during treatment damaged his hip.

"Otherwise I a fine. My story has a happy ending. That is why I want to advise men to keep on top of their health, listen to their doctor and follow their advice."

In the years since, many of Keith's friends and acquaintances reached out for heart-to-heart conversations and have asked every health question imaginable. For Keith, Movember is about offering the kind of support and answers he wished he'd had when facing cancer.

Paul Byrne who is based in Dunshaughlin says his Movember journey is a deeply personal tribute to the men who shaped his life. He lost his father, who struggled with both his mental and physical health, and a beloved cousin in Australia. The news of his cousin's suicide came on the very day Paul's partner went into the hospital to give birth to their first child. Both men were known for their moustaches, and Paul now grows his own to honour their memory. By sporting a moustache, he transforms his grief into a positive force, celebrating their lives while raising awareness for men's health in hopes of sparing other families from similar struggles.

"I lost my Dad three years ago. He became quite sick. He was a smoker and a diabetic and didn't look after his health. He was only 60. I want to be around. I want to be here longer for my children," he said.

"My cousin died in Australia during Covid, so I never got to see him again. They were both very important figures in my life."

To look after his own health, Paul runs around 200km a month.

He says that having a moustache provides a pathway to bantering about it first of all and then talking about men's health.

Paul works for the Toast Tech company and is the Movember ambassador in his company. "I share all the reports and information about men's health. He is also involved with the GAA's Ahead of the Game initiative which equips young athletes, coaches, and parents with practical tools to build mental fitness and resilience, while raising awareness of mental health. He has also raised around €10,000 euros for the charity in total.

The Real Face of Men's Health report launched last week by Movember reveals that two in five of all male deaths were premature. Men living in the most deprived areas in Ireland were 150 per cent more likely to die before the age of 75 than those living in the least deprived areas. Health economic analysis for the report also reveals that the five leading causes of years of life lost among Irish men cost over €1 billion in 2023 alone, €716 million which could have been prevented.

The report, produced in partnership with the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland and the National Centre for Men’s Health (SETU) calls for cross Government support to expedite the roll out of the National Men’s Health Action Plan throughout Ireland. The report is a first of its kind to examine the reality of men’s health in Ireland today and is being supported by Irish Grammy winning musician Cian Ducrot and sporting legend Barry McGuigan.

According to the report, GPs said that the two biggest barriers to addressing men’s health issues were a lack of time and men’s reluctance to discuss sensitive topics. Fewer than one in three GPs felt they had a very good understanding of men’s health. When it came to men specifically addressing mental health concerns, GPs cited stigma, social norms around self-reliance, lack of support networks and fear of career impact as barriers to proactively seeking support.

Men account for four in every five suicides (79 per cent), and over nine in 10 GPs encountered men presenting with suicide or suicidal ideation in the past year. On average GPs reported seeing 15 male patients per year presenting with suicidal behaviour with most cases in the 18–34-year-old and 35-54 age group.