The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Cancer survivor spreads the word

Local minister will be a model at annual fashion show, and he hopes to be a role model for early prostate screening.

The Rev. Ernest Brown is a cancer survivor and will be featured at the annual Sisters United for Prevention banquet and fashion show beginning at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 9, at the Springfield Holidome. Staff photo by Marshall Gorby

ENLARGE PHOTO

Police headlines: Driver arrested in two-car collision
11:29 p.m.
Local Focus: Champaign County for Feb. 8
11:28 p.m.
Local Focus: Clark County for Feb. 8
11:27 p.m.
Kasich: Education will lead to new jobs
11:17 p.m.
Broadband expanding to lure jobs to state
11:14 p.m.
> More headlines

By Tom Stafford, Staff Writer Updated 10:25 PM Monday, April 27, 2009

The Rev. Ernest Brown doesn’t go so far as to say God gave him prostate cancer.

But the pastor of St. John Missionary Baptist Church does say “the Lord allowed me to go through it so I can help others.”

Brown will be doing that when he models at the Sisters United for Prevention fifth annual Cancer Awareness and Survivors Fashion Show, set for 11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 9, at the Springfield Holidome.

It’s all part of his effort to lead his congregation and community to look after their bodies as well as their spirits.

Strong family history

Because his father, grandfather and uncle all have had prostate and colon cancer, “I began trying to be diligent” about getting an annual PSA test for prostate cancer “when Dad went through his first bout” eight years ago, Brown said.

Normal for a time, his result elevated to three, then to five in 2006 when Dr. Mark Roberto referred him to a urologist.

The urologist’s exam led to a biopsy, the thought of which was the scariest part of the experience for Brown, who was a tailback on Wittenberg University’s Division III NCAA championship team in the 1970s.

“I prayed a lot, and I attribute God’s help in blocking the pain, because it was not as bad an experience as I thought it would be,” he said.

Hearing the news that he had cancer was another matter. “I knew as soon as he walked in the room, because of the look on his face,” Brown said. Even expecting the news, “it hits you like a ton of bricks,” he said. “You take a deep breath.”

“I was pretty tough in the doctor’s office. But I went to my car and I cried. I did.”

Options

By then he was considering treatment options. One was robotic surgery at Ohio State University Hospital, a form of surgery now available in Springfield.

Told he wasn’t a good candidate for the procedure because of his weight, Brown asked how much weight he’d have to lose.

“I came home — I’m a former athlete — and I went back into training. I cut back to a 1,600-calorie (daily) diet and I lost 40 pounds in two months,” he said — 10 more than required.

As a result, he went into surgery feeling better than he had in years.

“I was home the next day” and on a treadmill, he said. “Very slow, but I was on a treadmill.”

From his diagnosis in November 2007 through his surgery in March 2007, “my family was more devastated than I was,” Brown said. “My children took it hard. My wife took it hard. My father took it hard.”

On the other hand, “God gave me a peace that even I had a hard time comprehending,” he said.

Walking the journey

“I’m kind of a crusader now with men, especially, but with health care for everyone,” Brown said.

Recent health screening programs at St. John are part of a program he hopes will teach the congregation “not only to be spiritually fit, but also physically fit. Spiritually fit means ‘I take care of my body,’ ” Brown said.

And just as he is insistent on making sure his older son, Ernest Jr., is getting regular PSA tests, he wants all the children in the congregation to get into the habit of looking after their health.

Brown said the message can be a tougher sell with men because “we’re bred to believe we’re supposed to fix everything. There are some things we can’t fix,” Brown said. “And there are some times when we need somebody to walk on that journey with us and realize we can’t do it alone.”

It’s Brown’s preparedness to better walk the journey with others that leads him to talk about his own cancer experience as a gift from God.

He said he can now ask if their heart jumped when they were told. He can ask whether they felt afraid.

And when he does, he has the satisfaction of knowing he can help lead his brothers out of a wilderness through which they might otherwise wander alone.

Share this article