Cancer Society introduces BLU.C.C.

The Cancer Society recently took on the task of running its first ‘Dare To Go Blue Week’ during what was only the third week of term. In an attempt to encourage men to be more diligent with getting themselves checked for cancer, the week included everything from a Big Fat Blue Quiz to a screening of the movie Dodgeball.The award-winning society had already proved their worth since being launched just few years ago, with the debut of their 24-hour Relay for Life raising approximately €20,000 in 2013, before going on to raise more than twice that amount a year later.The main aim of the week was to campaign for visibility of men’s cancers.  BlueSeptember.ie highlights that the initiative “seeks to tackle the fact that men are more likely to develop and die of cancer than women.” By informing the public that men are 20% more likely to get cancer than women, the campaign hopes to get men talking about their health problems.Cancer Society Auditor Ellen Desmond stated: “People are pretty much aware of cancer at this stage but no one is talking about it, or taking preventative measures, or even learning about symptoms.”A notable example is that testicular cancer, which is the most common form of cancer in men between 15 and 34, has a 95% survival rate, if caught early enough.In order to spread the message to their targeted demographic, the Cancer Society combined traditional methods of spreading news with some more original ideas.One of their more innovative ideas was to decorate the trees on campus with blue wrappings, ribbons and Twitter hashtags. The purpose of these decorations were to catch the attention of students and get them in turn to search the hashtag and gain access to all the facts that CancerSoc have been tweeting about.The Keepy Uppy Tournament (Keepy Uppy the Fight against Cancer) was a huge success, with winner Conor Cremin finishing with a score of over 2,300, but for Desmond, the highlight of the week was Bodega Goes Blue.The night promised to follow on with the blue theme of the week with blue face-paint available and blue staff members present. The Facebook page for the event had over 6.2k invitees and certain posts on Cancer Soc’s own page have reached over 20,000 people, meaning their goal of having their message heard is truly being realised.In a time where charity fundraisers are often based on clever marketing gimmicks, the Dare to Go Blue Week had a refreshingly human-touch, with a huge variation of events organised and a strong on-campus presence from the Cancer Society.Funds raised over the week will go to Men's Cancer Alliance (The Mater Hospital, Mercy Hospital Foundation, and Cancer Care West), and  more information on prevention tips, symptoms and how to self-check can be found at Blue September.ie.