CLEVELAND — Matt Urie has a mustache in all of his son’s birthday pictures.

“All the rest of the year is perfectly fine,” he jokes.

His son was born in November of 2016. Urie is not a facial-hair kind of guy, but he’s been taking part in Movember and growing a mustache for the month of November for the last 12 years.

What You Need To Know

  • Movember is a charity fundraiser that helps bring attention and raise funds for men's mental health, prostate and testicular cancer

  • An increasing number of firefighters die by suicide as a result of suffering from behavioral health issues from exposures they experience while delivering emergency services

  • Firefighters are 9% more likely to be diagnosed and at a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer

Growing a mustache has become tradition for the charity event, Movember, which helps bring attention to and raise funds for men’s mental health, as well as prostate and testicular cancer.

“There are a couple guys that look like a 16-year-old trying to grow a mustache,” he said.

Urie is a firefighter/paramedic for Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cancer is a leading cause of death among firefighters. They are 9% more likely to be diagnosed and at a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer.

An increasing number also die by suicide as a result of suffering from behavioral health issues from exposures they experience while delivering emergency services, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.

“People don’t go on a car accident every day, so being able to talk and being able to open up makes our first responder community a little bit stronger,” Urie said.

He’s has gotten some of the other firefighters on board with the yearly event

“It’s kind of a competition between us. Who has the best looking one. Who has worst looking one,” Urie said.

Not all of them are as successful at Urie at growing out their mustache, but Brett Wenneman’s facial hair gives Urie a run for its money.

Wenneman is a firefighter/paramedic at the same station. He’s glad to be bringing attention to the mental health issues men face.

“As a guy, it was always just ‘walk it off,’ but obviously that’s not a healthy way of healthy way of dealing with things,” Wenneman said.

The stigma around taking care of one’s mental health has lessened in recent years, and Wenneman hopes this extends to first responders.

“We see it in our day-to-day for patients, the people we’re helping, but don’t take the time to recognize our own needs for it. You have to take care of yourself first before you can take care of others,” he said.

As for how Urie’s family feels about his mustache: “My son really likes it. My wife hates it,” he said with a laugh.

If you’d like to help firefighters Urie and Wenneman reach their fundraising goal, click here.