When I was a kid I had a favorite grandpa.

He often came to visit and brought small toys and trinkets for us to play.

Once, he arrived while I was still asleep and brought a pizza shaped pencil sharpener. My brother made me think it was real pizza and I tried to bite it.

Another time he started calling me names, a mix of my name and the name of a very quirky Mexican singer . I got so mad that I did the same, called him a similar name. He laughed so hard and for so long that I got even more pissed off.

Every time we met after that, the story would come up.

He once put a plastic Tupperware on a real oven.

He liked to go fishing and taught me to love fishing. He once sent me to a steep river bank to recover an abandoned can of live bait.

He waited until I was down there to tell me not to fall in the piranha infested waters.

He taught me how to play dominoes like a master: keep your mouth shut, keep count of who has what and don’t grab more than the 7 pieces you need after each shuffle.

He told me about this girl that kept taking all of the pieces and making the other players wait. To teach her a lesson he threw her a piece to her forehead, got up and left the table.

Tough love I guess.

So many stories…

And then he got prostate cancer

I asked my dad recently and he told me he tried to have him get checked but he wouldn’t budge.

I sure hope my dad had thrown a domino piece to his forehead to make him understand, but it probably wouldn’t have worked because he was too stubborn.

He was always strong and seeing him on his deathbed, no larger than a 5 year old is one of the worse images I’ve ever experienced. It left me scared of cancer for the longest.

So before November ends, go ahead and donate a little bit to Movember:

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in Canada and around the world. With their “Mo’s”, these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer.

You can support this campaign by donating through me .

Although it says " You are making a donation to Joaquin Windmuller" no money will be ending in my pocket, it’s just a way to track participation.

If you don’t want to donate to me

Go ahead and do a general donation .

Even if you don’t donate

Go get checked, prostate cancer has a 90% or more chance of cure if caught early, but it has very little symptoms until it has grown too much and is probably too late. According to the Prostate Cancer Canada Network :

Without regular testing (PSA & DRE), it is very difficult to find early stage prostate cancer.

And if you don’t have a prostate (a.k.a. you’re a girl) make your boys get tested.