Look At Your Five Best Buddies…

… next time you get together to play poker or watch a football game. And even if you don't want to violate Man Law and say it out loud, reflect on how much those guys mean to you.

Because one of you is probably going to develop prostate cancer.

And the unlucky one that does, has a 1 in 36 chance of dying from it. That's more than brain cancer. More than leukemia, Hodgkins disease, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, or even pancreatic cancer. Only lung cancer is more likely to kill one of us.

It's going to kill someone you know. Maybe your father, your brother, or the best man at your wedding. It's going to rob you of someone you love.

Even for the survivors, it will radically change the rest of their lives. We joke about erectile dysfunction being only marginally preferable to death, but imagine the price of surviving cancer being never again able to make love to the woman who stood by your side as you fought it.

Have I got your attention yet?

TOTWTYTR made us aware of these facts a year ago. Happy Medic and Motorcop took the ball and ran with it, and Kilted to Kick Cancer was born. A number of companies have lent their support and marketing muscle to the success of the awareness campaign. Several more have donated prizes to encourage participation in the fundraising campaign.

Perhaps two dozen of us wore our kilts at EMS World Expo in Las Vegas, spreading the word. Today, I braved a trip to the grocery store right in the middle of Cajun country, wearing a kilt. Believe me, you get a different reaction in small town southwest Louisiana than you do on the streets of San Francisco or Las Vegas. Still, a few people were bold enough to ask why I wore a kilt, and I took the opportunity to tell them about prostate cancer.

 

Kilted to Kick Cancer is working as planned to raise awareness of male-specific cancers. I've told more men in the past week to get themselves checked than I have in 10 years, and every single one of those men approached me first.

But me being me, I'm not satisifed with raising awareness. I want to raise money, because dollars drive the research that we need to defeat this killer. That's why I issued this blog challenge. I know a substantial number of EMS and gun bloggers read my scribblings here. A few of those have been brave enough to take up the challenge.

I want more to participate.

There are unique download links left, just waiting for me to assign them to a participating blogger. Take up the challenge, please, and spread the word to other EMS and gun bloggers. The fundraising challenge rules are on my blog.  If you'd like to participate, but don't own a kilt, that's fine. Take the money you'd use to buy a kilt, and donate a chunk of it in your own name. Post the Kilted to Kick Cancer logo in lieu of a pic of you in a kilt. Spread the word to your friends, and urge them to donate.

Right now, the leading fundraiser has raised $100. For that measly hundred bucks, he stands to win a prize package worth nearly $1,000, and that's just for First Place.

You know we can do better than that.

This isn't about me winning my own contest. I'd like for more bloggers to take up the challenge, both to raise as much money as we can and to show the vendors who were kind enough to donate prizes that this campaign has legs. That way, when it's time for Kilted to Kick Cancer 2012, they'll be likely to lend their support again.

So I'm not asking you to donate on my links. In fact, don't. Instead, support one of the other bloggers who have taken up the challenge, and let's make a horse race of this. The tighter the race is, the more money we'll raise. In the coming days, I'm going to feature each blogger who has taken up the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge, and tell you how to donate to support their cause.

If you'd like to be one of those bloggers, it's not too late to join us. Email me, and I'll tell you how. If you'd rather not participate, kick in a few dollars to one of the bloggers who is.

But most importantly, urge your male friends and loved ones to get checked. If you're over age 40, it's time, and you only have to worry if the doctor puts both hands on your shouders.