I was a little surprised when my co-workers were all asking me what the reason was that I was wearing a light blue ribbon last month, but they all seemed surprised too when I told them that it was a prostate cancer ribbon. I am always saddened that everyone is so familiar with the pink ribbons for breast cancer, but no one knows what the blue ribbons are for.

While breast cancer is of course something that we all need to be aware of, as a survivor of a battle with prostate cancer I feel like there could be a better awareness of men's health issues, especially by men themselves. The reason I started wearing the prostate cancer ribbon was that a couple years ago, I started having symptoms of prostate cancer, but because I was not educated about it, I didn't pay any attention to them.

Before long, the symptoms got to the point where I could not ignore them anymore, so I went to the doctor where I received the frightening news that I had cancer and I would need to start treatments immediately. My family and I were all terrified about what this might mean for us, but I started the treatments and did everything possible to recover from this awful disease.

But I was overwhelmed with joy when the doctors told me that I had beaten the odds and I could barely believe my good fortune. This experience was what motivated me to wear the ribbon during prostate cancer awareness month, and I did a little bit of searching and thought I would wear the ribbon for all the different countries awareness months which were September in the United States, November in Canada and March in the United Kingdom.

I actually love the moments when people ask me about the ribbon, because it allows me to tell about my experience with prostate cancer, and share information with others who ought to be aware of men's health issues, but maybe have just not taken the time to really learn about it. The first day that I wore the ribbon in to the office was really a wonderful day, and I was delighted that because I shared my story, several of the other older men in the office made appointments with their doctors for a prostate check-up. As it turned out, one of the men had the early stages of cancer, and was extremely grateful for my advice, and I was grateful that he had listened!