“People ask me if I have a milkshake moustache or if I’ve just eaten a Vegemite sandwich,” the Valentine resident joked.

But each November, the month that has become known as Movember, for the past three years Mr Bourke has attempted to grow a moustache to raise awareness about and some funds for an issue close to his heart – men’s health.

Fuelled by his father’s ongoing prostate cancer battle, the suicide of a friend and his own testicular cancer journey, Mr Bourke is using the Movember campaign to encourage men to take a more active approach to their health and understand that seeking help is a strength, not a weakness.

“It was less than 12 months after I moved from Sydney to Newcastle for a job at the Mater Hospital, which incidentally is the major cancer treatment centre for the Hunter, that almost ironically I was diagnosed with cancer myself,” Mr Bourke said.

“Like a lot of blokes I ignored the problem until the symptoms became too obvious to ignore.

“I didn’t think it would be any different to treating a broken leg. I thought I’d be out of action for a couple of weeks then everything would go back to normal. I was a bit slow on how much of an impact cancer would have on my life.

“Within six months post-cancer treatment I was suffering from depression for the first time in my life. That was harder to deal with than the cancer and it took me by surprise.

“This was when I set myself the challenge to get back in shape and take an active approach to getting my life back on track.”

A keen cyclist before being diagnosed with testicular cancer and wanting to “get things back on track” he quite literally got back on his bike and undertook a challenging 1000 kilometre off-road trail bike ride in Western Australia.

Mr Bourke is now in remission and is passionate about helping men have real conversations about their mental and physical health.

To keep the conversation rolling, this year in addition to growing a moustache Mr Bourke has embraced the Move during Movember campaign and is aiming to cycle an average of 60 kilometres a day. Anyone can sign up for Move. The requirement is to commit to walking or running 60km during the month of November.

The distance represents the 60 men from across the world that die each hour to suicide. Being a regular on the bike paths and trails around Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, Mr Bourke thought 60km for the month was too easy and has committed to cycling an average of 60km a day.

He is aiming to ride 420km every week for a month total of 1800kms.

Money raised for his efforts, along with anyone else registered to raise funds for Movember, goes to the Movember Foundation.

Last year, close to 1400 men and women from across Newcastle raised more than $300,000 for the foundation.

This year, with the foundation celebrating its 15th anniversary, it is hoped Movember has even more success. 

“Being part of the Movember movement is about raising the volume on men’s health,” Rachel Carr, Movember Foundation Australia country director, said.

“There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done but with each Mo grown, dollar raised and story shared by our Movember community we get closer to our goal of stopping men dying too young.”  

Since 2015, Mr Bourke has raised $1308 in support of the Movember Foundation and men’s health. His real passion, however, lies in having real and often difficult conversations with men about their health.

As a manager of non-clinical services at the Mater Hospital, he often discusses health issues with his own male employees.

“I’m quite keen on the area of men’s health and mental health,” he said. “In my team, with the guys that work with me, I enjoy having real conversations, sometimes difficult conversations, about how they’re going as blokes. 

“I can speak to them, I have an understanding what they’re going through, speak with them and explore their feelings, which typically isn’t a blokey thing to do, but hopefully it helps. That’s what Movember is really all about.”

Mr Bourke will be charting his Movember journey on Instagram via @themomamil.

Click here to donate to Mr Bourke’s Movember fundraising campaign.