Sun & Ski Sports Offers Blue Cure T-Shirts to Fight Prostate Cancer, Raise Awareness

Celebs are among those to "do Blue" for men akin to the pink link for women's breast cancer

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sun & Ski Sports, whose shoes and jerseys help active Americans stay healthy, now offers a T-shirt which can help save lives.

“We want to raise awareness and save lives, and this is a great way to get that message out.”

The national retailer is selling eye-catching T-shirts which pro athletes and TV stars already are wearing to spur the new Blue Cure Foundation, whose "blue" fight against prostate cancer is men's answer to women's "pink" breast cancer movement.

With all T-shirt proceeds going to the non-profit 501(c)(3) Blue Cure Foundation, "We are happy to get behind a cause that educates men on the realities of prostate cancer," says Sun & Ski Sports CEO Barry Goldware.

One such reality is that more men get prostate cancer -- one in six -- than women get breast cancer -- one in eight. The National Cancer Institute estimates 217,730 U.S. men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010, and 32,050 died of the disease.

"I'm fortunate to have a partner in Sun & Ski Sports to help me get the word out," says Gabe Canales of Houston, who launched Blue Cure last year upon learning at age 35 that he had prostate cancer, often misrepresented as an "old man's disease." Since then the athletic, 6-foot-4 Canales, who'd shown no symptoms and got his diagnosis from an inadvertent test, has dedicated his life to fighting America's #1 male cancer.

Already worn by Phoenix Suns players Marcin Gortat and Garret Siler, former U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Rod Paige and TV personalities like Celebrity Apprentice's Hope Dworaczyk, The Bachelor's Erica Rose and Real World/Road Rules' Jamie Murray, Blue Cure T-shirts are being promoted and sold online by Sun & Ski Sports.

The first celebrity to wear a Blue Cure T-shirt was actress Fran Drescher, a uterine cancer survivor.

"I am so grateful to Fran Drescher for her support of Blue Cure," says Canales. "Fran founded the hugely successful Cancer Schmancer Movement (http://www.cancerschmancer.org) and Cancer Schmancer Foundation, and she's graciously stepped up for men as well, helping us to shine a spotlight on the #1 'male cancer' in America."

Goldware says Sun & Ski Sports also is "happy to get behind a cause that educates men on the realities of prostate cancer, encourages annual screenings and promotes healthier lifestyle habits such as more fruits and vegetables, more exercise and diets lower in saturated fats."

"Sun & Ski Sports is a great partner for this effort," says Canales. "We want to raise awareness and save lives, and this is a great way to get that message out."

ABOUT BLUE CURE

Blue Cure Foundation is a new non-profit 501(c)(3) campaign to fight prostate cancer, which afflicts one in six men and killed 32,000 last year. Gabe Canales of Houston launched Blue Cure after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010 after an inadvertent test at age 35. Blue Cure's principal missions are to raise awareness, urge earlier screenings, promote healthier lifestyle habits including diet and exercise, and spur research for a cure to America's #1 male cancer.

ABOUT SUN & SKI

With 25 stores across the country, Sun & Ski Sports specializes in five categories - ski (snow and water), bicycling, skating, running and camping. This highly focused approach allows Sun & Ski Sports to give customers more of what they want in a specialty store.

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