Activist Brooks changes focus to cancer detection

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For close to 40 years, Alving Brooks has made it his mission to help the community of Kansas City in so many ways.  He told FOX 4 News Saturday that a recent health issue is turning his focus away from the adhoc group that he founded and to something that effects so many men.

Brooks spent Friday celebrating his 81st birthday and sharing a very private
part of his life.  He has prostate cancer, a disease that affects millions every year.
But many men, especially those in the African American community, don’t talk about it
and don’t get checked.  Brooks is hoping to change that.

“I have prostate cancer.  I don’t know where it stands right now,” he said.
A diagnosis was given to Brooks back in January of 2012.

“When they did biopsy of the prostrate, they found it was cancerous,” he said.  “I was surprised, because I dont eat the greasy kids stuff.  I havent eaten any meat since 1968.
Over the past year, Brooks has still been the go to man for families in need of answers.  He even held prayer vigils for the public to attend, while privately he has went through 43 treatments of radiation and some soul searching.

His goal is to move away from the adhoc group Against Crime which was started in 1977.
“I want to be able to walk away and look back and reflect how far we have come since November of 1977.  The number of people we have helped because of crime and homicide.  How we have worked with police and the courts and the community,” Brooks told FOX 4 News.

His goal is to get the word out about early detection.  Brooks lost his father to prostate cancer.  He said the move won’t happen immediately.

“I want to give it full steam ahead with this cancer thing,” he continued.  “My wife is on her second bout of cancer and at the present time at the KU Medical Center.”
“I hope I can just phase my relationship at the forefront out and be a consultant of sorts,” Brooks told FOX 4 News.  “I am looking forward to it.  I’m not going take on other task til I really ease away from it.”
“I want to give it full steam ahead with this cancer thing,” he continued.  “My wife is on her second bout of cancer and at the present time at the KU Medical Center.  I really encourage African American men when you get 45 or older — get it checked very seriously checked.”
Brooks has another appointment this month to find out about his latest cancer diagnosis.
He told FOX 4 News his wife of 63 years is also getting better and he says he can’t wait for her to come home.

According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated one out of every five African American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Studies show that this group of men and Jamaican men of African descent have the highest prostate cancer rates worldwide.  Doctors are still trying to figure out why.
More than two and a half million men in the U.S. have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and are still alive today.  That’s why early detection is so important.
http://fox4kc.com/2013/05/04/activist-brooks-changes-focus-to-prostate-cancer-detection/