{"id":806307,"date":"2026-08-08T01:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/806307\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:26:11","slug":"pitching-in-movember-hall-of-famer-kick-starts-new-initiative-for-mens-mental-health-with-his-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/806307\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitching in: Movember Hall of Famer kick-starts new initiative for men\u2019s mental health with his son"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Jeffrey Peckitt and his son Jon Peckitt at Movember Canada’s office in Toronto. They are leading a new challenge to raise awareness about men’s mental health.Cole Burston\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The organizer: Jeffrey Peckitt<\/p>\n

The pitch: Launching Movember\u2019s Father and Son Challenge <\/p>\n

The cause: To raise awareness about men\u2019s mental health<\/p>\n

Nearly two years ago, Jeffrey Peckitt got a call from his doctor that everyone dreads. He was told that he had Stage 4 throat cancer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI bought stationary to start writing letters to family and friends,\u201d Mr. Peckitt, 68, recalled from his home in Toronto. He went through days of depression and felt \u201chaunted by the prospect of never walking my daughter down the aisle or ever meeting my grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n

A week after his diagnosis, Mr. Peckitt met an oncologist who said test results revealed good news. \u201cWe see it\u2019s in your throat,\u201d they told him. \u201cWe see it jumped to your lymph node. I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s Stage 2 with one caveat that it hasn\u2019t jumped anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

After surgery and several rounds of treatment at Princess Margaret hospital, Mr. Peckitt\u2019s cancer went into remission. \u201cI\u2019m clean. I got treated like royalty. I got lucky. It was Stage 2, not Stage 4.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Peckitt was inducted into Movember Canada’s Hall of Fame as a top fundraiser. His son, Jon, has also previously been involved with the charity.Cole Burston\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Around the same time, Mr. Peckitt got a surprise call from officials at the Canadian chapter of Movember, the global charity that raises money for men\u2019s health programs. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s been a long-time fundraiser for Movember and raised more than $100,000 since 2010. The chapter announced that he would be inducted into Movember Canada\u2019s Hall of Fame as one of the country\u2019s top 20 fundraisers. \u201cI was truly floored and humbled,\u201d he recalled. <\/p>\n

During the induction ceremonies, he spoke with the charity\u2019s global leadership about an idea. His son, Jon, had become involved in Movember as well and they\u2019d talked about the growing need to tackle men\u2019s mental health. Jon\u2019s friend had died by suicide and Mr. Peckitt felt it was important to break down the stigma many men feel when it comes to discussing mental health.<\/p>\n

He proposed launching the Father and Son Challenge as part of Movember\u2019s annual fundraising campaign. \u201cIt\u2019s not a competition,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about just talking to each other, talking to your son, talking to his schoolmates. Let\u2019s open up and talk to each other, let\u2019s get people involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The charity agreed and Canada will be the first country to hold the challenge this fall.<\/p>\n

Mr. Peckitt is thankful for his health and the opportunity to take the challenge global. More importantly, he added, \u201cwe hope to assure young men that there is no shame in reaching out to others in one\u2019s darkest hours. It\u2019s literally a matter of life or death.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Jeffrey Peckitt and his son Jon Peckitt at Movember Canada’s office in Toronto.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260,24296],"class_list":["post-806307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-noastack"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}