The Lifesaving Lobby and Call of Duty are Asking You to Check Your Nuts
We love a good cause here at P2, so when this PR message came through my inbox, I just had to give it a shoutout. The Lifesaving Lobby, a grassroots health initiative, has grabbed a copy of gaming phenomenon Call of Duty Warzone to remind blokes everywhere that it is important to check your nuts. For those that don’t know, testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men between the ages of 15-35. While it is highly treatable, it is often missed for two reasons: A) blokes are useless at going to the doctors and B) regular self-checking is not happening enough.
This is what this whole campaign is about: teaching guys how to check their twig and berries. Campaign creator Rhys Venning recruited a team of competitive gamers to get together in Warzone and encourage other men that the two minutes between matches is the perfect time to check the tackle and make sure there is nothing out of the ordinary going on. The group of pro gamers created bold in-game personas, including names like The Pain Below, Aching Boys and Usual Lump; all common symptoms of the disease that will impact 960 young Aussie males this year. After outplaying their competition in the virtual arena, they would deliver one final message in the game’s post-match lobby: check your nuts
It is certainly a unique way to send out a message, but I have no doubt it is an effective one. Assistance has come in from the Movember’s “Know Thy Nuts” education hub, which gives blokes all the info they need to make sure they can do their own checks on the boys downstairs.
From a personal standpoint, I have had mates diagnosed with this cancer, and I know it can be beaten, but only with early detection, so the importance of this campaign cannot be overstated. Campaign Creator Rhys Venning said it best: “If just one young bloke found a lump and got it checked early because of this, that’s more than enough for me,”
So check out the video below and blokes, please, check your nuts. It may just save your life.
