As we come to the end of November, some people are also wrapping up a monthlong public health campaign called “Movember,” where men grow a mustache to bring awareness to men’s health, including prostate cancer.

Jorge Fernandez received a life-changing diagnosis 2 ½ years ago. At 58 years old, the married father of five from Brookline was suddenly facing the fact that he had prostate cancer.

“So, it was a strange thing and certainly a scary and disconcerting thing,” Fernandez said of the moment he learned he had cancer.

Fernandez said the news came as a huge shock.

“I didn’t have any symptoms at all. Zero symptoms,” he said.

It wasn’t until Fernandez’s primary care physician noticed that his annually monitored PSA results, which is part of a routine blood test taken by men his age, came back a bit elevated.

A biopsy confirmed a significant amount of cancer was present, and after consulting with doctors and his wife, Fernandez decided surgery and removal of the prostate was his best course of action.

“If this would have been left unattended, then it would be a completely different situation and probably a sad outcome,” he said.

“Prostate cancer is remarkably prevalent. It is by far the most common cancer among men in the United States,” said Dr. Mark Pomerantz, clinical director of the Genitourinary Group at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Pomerantz said cancer in the small gland located just below the bladder, which is part of the male reproductive system, is more common than we appreciate.

In most cases, if a man lives long enough, he may die of old age rather than from the cancer itself.

“Most people die with prostate cancer, not of prostate cancer,” he said.

Pomerantz said 250,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer every year, and 30,000 of those cases will be fatal.

Although it’s the second-leading cause of cancer death among men, early detection can be a lifesaver.

“So, the number of diagnoses is much different than the number of prostate cancer-related deaths, and that is a reflection of how controllable and curable this disease can be,” Pomerantz said.

Currently, Fernandez is cancer free and living a full and happy life.

“I feel really, really good,” he said.

Despite some men not wanting to talk about the sensitive nature of this type of cancer, Fernandez said awareness and having what can be an admittedly uncomfortable conversation is critical to saving lives.

“Even doing this is not so easy, but I feel like it’s important to confront it and to also know that avoidance or ignoring it or just that would have been terrible for me and for the people that I love,” he said.

Pomerantz said men can find inspiration in women who have made breast cancer awareness an important part of overall health care.

He said the breast cancer movement has saved millions of lives, and there is no reason we can’t do the same for men when it comes to facing and fighting prostate cancer.

Watch the video above for the full story.

In 2017, F4 racing driver Billy Monger, also known as "Billy Whizz," was involved in a collision on the track that left him seriously injured and resulted in the amputation of both his legs.In a new video for Comic Relief, he shares how he was so full of adrenaline at the time that he felt no pain, and didn't realize he was injured. It was only when he woke up from a medically induced coma three days later that he learned the doctors had been forced to amputate both of his lower legs."It's a bit of a brutal awakening, but the person that made it easiest for me was my doctor, who did the surgeries," he says. "Rather than closing my mind to what I'd lost, he opened my mind to what I still had."Following the lengthy, arduous process of learning to walk again, Monger returned to the world of racing, although as his trainer Andy Wellfare explains, that was not without its challenges."The huge G-forces, you have to be incredibly strong to race a car in terms of core, shoulder, neck strength, and also cardio. You'd be surprised how high the heart rate gets, and how hot the temperature gets within that car... They're proper athletes."The willpower and perseverance that propelled Monger's comeback meant that when he was approached to do the Ironman triathlon in 2021, to raise money for Comic Relief, he immediately said yes. "It just came at the right moment, where I was in such a groove with my training, and enjoyed that process a lot, getting better in areas, that I was like, yeah I'll do it."While the Ironman triathlon usually includes a swim, bike ride and marathon-length run, Monger's version is slightly different, and will consist of 18 miles in a kayak, 26.2 mile run, and 95 miles on a bike. Wellfare says that managing Monger's stump health was a priority throughout their training, including ensuring he had the right kind of prosthetics for each event in the triathlon, and anticipating how issues in one section may affect the others."I've been through a lot of physical strain over the last few years, learning how to walk again, learning how to compete again," says Monger. "This for me, as a challenge in general, is probably going to be the toughest thing I've taken on since my accident."Monger completes the challenge over the space of four days, raising more than £2 million for Comic Relief in the process."It was easily 80% mental fortitude," he says. "I think about four laps from the finish, my legs really went to jelly, and they were done. There were 10 miles left to go, and at that point I was just like, yeah I'm done. I literally had to forget everyone else is here, go deep in the zone. I've never been so emotional while hurting as much as I was. I had to draw on every emotional experience I've ever had in my life. My accident, my friends, my family, the people we were going to help who I've met from the charities, all of that came from within."