He built a legacy as the president of the Indiana Black Expo for 20 years. But he left a legacy of trying to save the lives of others, while he was losing his own. Most of us remember, well, the late Rev. Charles Williams.
I had the honor of interviewing him in 2003, a year and a half before he died. He allowed me to witness some poignant, sobering moments, as he visited the Indiana Cancer Centers. He was getting treatment, and the latest prognosis, for prostate cancer – a disease that had metastasized from his prostate gland and was spreading quickly and deeply into his bones. I was in the room with him when Dr. Irene Minor shared the devastating news.
“This is a really aggressive cancer… We want to keep you as comfortable as we can, as long as we can.” She also said once cancer attacks the bones, “This is one of the most painful things you can ever experience.”
Yet, I will never forget how courageous and stoic Rev. Williams was during that moment of vulnerability. I volunteered to leave the doctor’s office and stop recording his story, giving him privacy after that disturbing news. But he asked me to stay, saying, “I am on an urgent mission. I truly believe that, through my suffering, God has commissioned me to make aware, publicly, that men need to take care of their health.”
He was passionate about using the time he had left to share these words. “Prostate cancer is a silent cancer. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Get tested.” Rev. Williams told me he had been experiencing pain, for at least a year, but ignored it. “If I had thought about this two years ago, I might have been able to add five or 10 more years or maybe 15 years to my life but because I ignored it, I don’t know how long I have to live.”
He was feverishly finishing a book, that year, titled, That Black Men Might Live, and he was urging men to make their health a priority before it’s too late. He said, “I’ve always been a person who cared about other people. I would give my last dime to a needy person, but I never really looked at myself and made me a priority.” Rev. Williams also exclaimed, to me, “Wives, mothers, sisters… get your man checked!” because he knew men often avoid doctors, feeling invulnerable to illness.
Sadly, Rev. Williams lost his battle with prostate cancer in July of 2004, but his impact still reverberates throughout Central Indiana. Today, you can attend the Reverend Charles Williams Prostate Cancer Awareness Run/Walk titled, “That Men Might Live.” It takes place in Quaker Park, in Westfield, on Sept. 27, during National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. And, nearly 1,000 men a year get free prostate cancer tests in The Reverend Williams Prostate Cancer Mobile Unit, the state’s first mobile testing unit. That’s life-saving impact because prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for American men.
Eleven years ago, when I asked Rev. Williams what legacy he hoped to leave, he stated simply, “I want to be remembered as just a simple person, trying to help somebody.” Job well done, Rev. Williams. Job well done.
