Woman Grows Beard for Cancer Awareness, Improved Self-Esteem

One of the most touching and inspiring stories today comes thanks to a 36-year-old woman from Staffordshire, who has turned her condition into a tool for a good cause. Siobhain Fletcher has been growing a beard for Movember.

As of yesterday, when her story started to get attention from the international press, she’s already raised a considerable sum on the official Movember website.

Speaking with ABC News, Fletcher explains how she came up with the idea to turn her condition, which is incurable and means she will always struggle with her weight and excessive pilosity.

Having already struggled with depression and isolation after being diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, as we also informed you yesterday, at the beginning of the month, Siobhain got the idea to let her facial hair grow.

As she puts it, if she can stand to be stared at for a month because of her beard, then surely men can be bothered to go for a checkup to see whether they have either of the men’s cancers, because that’s the idea behind her initiative.

“I pointed out that he had a bit of face fuzz, and asked about it. He told me about ‘Movember,’ and in a spur of the moment decision, I decided to grow mine,” Siobhain says of her decision to get in on the Movember initiative.

“It helps people get checked for prostate and testicular cancer, and hopefully people will, instead of going to a funeral, be going to a remission party,” she adds.

So far, response has been incredibly positive. She may have been taunted and teased once but, now that she’s bold enough to own her condition and, more importantly, use it for a good cause, not one person has had any bad things to say about her.

“To actually go out there, and get out there, you see people still have manners. People may look, but mostly it’s been very positive. I think only one negative comment on the whole of the Internet,” she says.

Siobhain jokes that she might let her beard grow again in December, modeling it after Captain Jack Sparrow’s facial hair.