Eddie just donated $96.17- Richard just donated $96.17
- Tony (Anthony) just donated $162.75
- Graham just donated $96.17
- Michael just donated $33.87
- dennis just donated $96.17
- Matthew just donated $54.84
- Frank just donated $54.84
- Murray just donated $162.75
- Anne just donated $33.87
- Rob just donated $54.84
THE NEED DOESN'T WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS
Around 650 Kiwi men will be diagnosed between the beginning of November to Christmas Day.
Every diagnosis arrives in the middle of a life and reaches far beyond one person, leaving partners, children, friends and whānau facing unfamiliar language, difficult decisions and questions they never expected to ask.
Some men will reach out immediately. Others will take time. Whenever they are ready, your Christmas gift ensures trusted information and support are there.
It began with a five-year-old, a bedtime question and absolutely nobody going to sleep.
A few months ago, my five-year-old daughter asked me what I actually do at work.
It was bedtime. This should have received a short answer.
Instead, it became a nearly two-hour attempt to explain prostate cancer, why men sometimes put off difficult questions, how Prostate Cancer Foundation NZ helps and why donations make that support possible.
Somewhere in the middle, the Princh appeared as a stand-in for that little voice saying, “Nah, it’s probably fine,” “Don’t make a fuss,” or “I’ll deal with it after Christmas.”
But my daughter wanted to know everything. What did he look like? Where did he live? Why was he like that? Most importantly, did he have anyone looking out for him?
Before long, the Princh had a home above the Valley of “I’m Fine”, on Mount Maybe-Later, inside the Cave of Unchecked Things. Then came Checka, his loyal blue-feathered companion, who knows there is a better way and refuses to give up on his friend.
By the time my wife finally enforced bedtime, we had written rhymes, made pictures and stumbled into a slightly ridiculous realisation:
This wasn’t just a bedtime story anymore.
This was our next Christmas Appeal.
The Princh and Checka had been born.
- Rob, Individual Giving Lead
WHAT YOUR CHRISTMAS GIFT MAKES POSSIBLE
"From what happens now?" to a clear next step
A prostate cancer diagnosis can suddenly fill life with unfamiliar language, difficult decisions and questions nobody expected to be asking.
Your gift keeps our nurse-led Information Service ready with personalised answers, clear explanations and trusted guidance for men and whānau trying to understand what comes next.
From facing it alone to finding others who understand
Your gift provides professional counselling and connection with support groups and communities where they can talk, listen and know they are not alone.
From treatment taking over, to finding a way forward
Prostate cancer treatment can affect one's strength, confidence, everyday routines and a family’s financial circumstances.
Your gift helps provide support services that help men and their whānau manage the physical, emotional and practical effects of prostate cancer and treatment.
"The outcome we want is longevity together."
What matters most is there presence beside you
When Simon went for a routine health check at 60, he was feeling pretty good about himself.
Fit, healthy, working outdoors. No symptoms, no particular worries whatsoever. And certainly, no reason to expect he'd be told he had prostate cancer.
But he was. And with Christmas just around the corner, an operating theatre was hardly where he'd imagined he'd find himself. Yet just two weeks after his diagnosis, that's exactly where Simon was.
For Simon and his family, surgery was not the end of it. Two courses of radiation followed, along with a further 18 months of hormone injections.
After two years of fighting, he still couldn't say whether he was on top of the cancer.
That's a lot to live with. To go through so much, and still not know what the future holds. Especially when that future isn't just yours, but one you hope to share with the people you love.
Thankfully, Simon hasn't had to face it alone.
“My wife has been with me every step of the way,” he says. “I wouldn't want to be dealing with this on my own.”
And beyond home, he's found people who really understand.
“The [Prostate Cancer NZ] support group has been fabulous and very helpful,” he says. Meeting men who'd had good outcomes showed him “that there was a positive path ahead”, even as his own journey remained difficult.
And Prost-FIT has given him something particularly precious. As he explains, it offers men a way “to feel in control of themselves and their situation at a time when everything is actually out of control.”
What Simon and his wife are hoping for is wonderfully ordinary. More time together. More of those little moments that make a life.
And while none of us can promise what tomorrow will bring, your Christmas gift can help keep understanding, encouragement and support close for other men and families facing their own uncertain tomorrows.
THE HEART OF THIS CHRISTMAS STORY
Christmas is made by the people who are there.
Not by perfectly wrapped presents, immaculate decorations or whether lunch appears on the table at the correct time.
It is made by the familiar laugh from the other end of the table. The person standing over the barbecue offering strong opinions about how everybody else should be cooking. The same old stories being told for what must surely be the hundredth time.
Most of these moments feel completely ordinary—until prostate cancer reminds a family just how much someone’s presence means.
That is why this campaign is about both action and support.
Acting earlier can change the options available to a man. After diagnosis, trusted information and support can change how he and his whānau carry everything that comes next.
Your Christmas gift helps encourage men to get checked and ensures that nobody has to face diagnosis, treatment or recovery without support beside them.
Don’t let delay pinch Christmas away. It’s your presence that makes the day.
BRING A LITTLE PRINCH & CHECKA MISCHIEF TO YOUR CHRISTMAS
COLOUR IN PRINCH AND CHECKA
MAKE YOUR OWN CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS
Print and cut out your own Princh and Checka Christmas decorations, then hang them on the tree in the house, or outside, or anywhere that could use a little more blue-feathered encouragement. Feel free to make them your own.
CHRISTMAS GIFT LABELS AND CARDS
Add some cheeky character to your Christmas gifts. Finish your wrappin with printable Princh and Checka gift labels and cards. Perfect for presents, stockings or letting somebody you definitely did not leave their gift until the last possible minute.
ONE LAST NUDGE FROM CHECKA
Later is the Princh’s favourite day. For men and whānau facing prostate cancer, today matters.
Prostate cancer will not wait for Christmas. Around 12 Kiwi men will be diagnosed today, another 12 tomorrow and hundreds more before families gather together on Christmas Day.
When that diagnosis arrives, it can bring fear, difficult decisions and more questions than anyone feels ready to ask. Your gift ensures those questions are met with trusted answers, practical help and a real person who understands.
This Christmas, we need to raise $30,000 to keep PCFNZ’s nurse-led Information Service, counselling, support groups, patient grants and recovery programmes available for men and whānau throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
Christmas is made by the people who are there. Please make the most generous gift you can today and help ensure PCFNZ can be there too, when someone needs answers, guidance, or simply another human being beside them.
Choose Your Christmas Gift
$30 | $90 | $150 | $255 | $500
Don't let delay pinch Christmas away.
It's your presence that makes Christmas Day.
