Tribute: Ken Wilson

Prostate Cancer

Cancer patient fought to save lives of others

Prostate Cancer Patient’s Mission Was to Bring Awareness and Education to Everyone

Editor’s Note: This story was written just before Ken Wilson’s death from prostate cancer on March 2, 2010, following an interview with Wilson from his home. The story is intended to serve as a tribute to Wilson and a continuation of his mission, to educate others about prostate cancer and encourage everyone to follow recommended guidelines for cancer screenings and general health check-ups.

“Hello, my name is Ken Wilson, and I have terminal prostate cancer.”

That impactful introduction quickly gained the attention of members of countless rotary and civic clubs, large businesses with corporate wellness programs and other organizations who welcome guest speakers throughout the Knoxville and East Tennessee region. Those words made scores of people stop chewing their chicken salad sandwich, pause before swallowing their sip of sweet tea and completely forget about delivering the closing lines to a story about their recent family vacation. It’s the type of attention grab that could likely only come from a salesman, or perhaps from a man dying of cancer who made it his mission to save as many lives as he could through the education and awareness that comes along with sharing his story.

In this case, it’s both.

“I thought, why should I waste all that experience in sales,” said Powell resident Ken Wilson, recounting his ultimate reaction not long after an April 4, 2007, diagnosis of prostate cancer that was “too far along to operate on.” Wilson, who spent more than 30 years frequently making cold calls and walking into businesses with merely a catalog and a positive attitude, saw his prostate cancer as a prime opportunity to close some deals. “Now, I’m selling life.”

The lifesaving message Wilson had been “selling” for nearly three years involved convincing men to be screened for prostate cancer and to take care of their health. Despite what sounds like the perfect product, Wilson said the initial target audience he sought to address actually gave him a considerable amount of resistance.

“Men are hard headed, and they don’t want to listen,” Wilson said of several of his initial discussions with men about prostate cancer and general preventive health.

So the audience broadened. Everyone became fair game for Ken Wilson’s sales pitch.

“I talk to anyone who will listen,” Wilson said with a grin. “I always tell women that they can be the nagging wife, and they can make their man go to the doctor when no one else can.”

The reach of his message branched out to the entire community through a special event in 2008, when Wilson, along with a few other prostate cancer survivors, doctors and volunteers organized THE MAN RUN for Prostate Cancer Awareness, a 5K run and fun walk that raises awareness of prostate cancer and raises funds for The University of Tennessee Medical Center Cancer Institute to expand its free prostate cancer screening programs into the Knoxville and East Tennessee region. He even chaired the event in 2009, balancing his time between volunteering at the Cancer Institute, going to appointments with his doctors and making the rounds on radio and television stations to encourage people to both participate in the race and get men to sign up for the free prostate cancer screenings. Immediately after the race each year, Wilson went right back out in the community to spread his message everywhere he could.

“Lowe’s, Home Depot, the grocery store, Wal-Mart, church and hospital, anywhere I go I talk to people about prostate cancer,” Wilson added, with his facial expression taking a more serious tone. “The simple fact is this. Early detection, early cure. Late detection, long hard cure or no cure.”

People got that message. They also paid attention when they heard about Wilson’s rounds of chemotherapy, his radiation treatments, the cancer-fighting drugs, the surgeries he’d endured for problems associated with prostate cancer and the stent he had placed in his kidney. They paid attention when they learned how the prostate cancer metastasized into Wilson’s bones and liver.

“He’s probably saved hundreds of lives,” said Frieda Wilson, Ken’s sweetheart from the Central High School class of 1957 and his wife of 51 years. “Men at church routinely tell him they’ve gotten their physicals for the first time in many years or went through cancer screenings because of Ken.”

And while much of the success came through getting wives or girlfriends to convince their men to go to the doctor, Wilson prided himself on the discussions he’d had with men that resulted in physician visits and cancer screenings. One such conversation occurred with a friend of his who hadn’t been to a doctor in years, a pastor at his church who is the father of two young girls.

“I said, ‘You’ve got those beautiful young daughters at home. When they get older, do you want their step-father to walk them down the aisle at their weddings or do you want to walk them down the aisle?’” Wilson explained. “He went and got a physical the next week.”

Wilson also readily admitted crying tears of joy one day after receiving a phone call from a man he had met in the community. The man said that Wilson had saved his life by convincing him to get a prostate cancer screening, which detected cancer at an early enough stage for the man to be able to make a full recovery.

But Wilson knew his prostate cancer story would not have a happy ending. Despite regularly visiting the doctor and always following recommended screening guidelines, which included annual prostate cancer screenings after the age of 50, Wilson’s first positive reading for prostate cancer came too late. Wilson did not become bitter. He recognized that his case was the exception and that early detection remains the best way to beat prostate cancer. Wilson credited his support system for helping him through his battle with cancer.

“The unconditional love of Jesus Christ and the love of my life, my wonderful wife of 51 years,” Wilson says, glancing at Frieda with a look of admiration. “If it weren’t for them, I don’t know how I could have gotten through this.”

Shortly after the home hospice nurse left the Wilson’s home on this particular day, Wilson gingerly made his way to a soft chair in the living room and sat down. Sometimes, the pain that shot down his legs was brutally intense. Other times, it just hurt. But the pain was always there in the final stages of his battle with cancer, making it difficult for Wilson to sleep at night.

“There are no treatments left for battling the cancer,” Frieda said, wiping tears from her eyes. “All the treatments have been exhausted. It’s in God’s hands now. Only God knows when it’s his time. All we can do now is make him as comfortable as possible.”

Despite the pain and his ailing condition, Ken Wilson’s focus remained on his mission to educate others and on his family. He wondered how Frieda, who has a vision impairment that renders her unable to drive a car, would be able to accomplish common tasks such as going to the grocery store. He worried about the lack of a father figure for his grandson, who is now reaching the age of 18.

“I’m the only father he’s known for the last 15 years, and I just worry about him,” Wilson said. “Last grading period he made all A’s and one B, so he’s doing really well. But like any teenager, he needs a certain amount of guidance.”

The pastors from Grace Baptist Church already had been out to the house to help Ken and Frieda plan all of the details for Ken’s funeral.

“We just praise Him for every day we have,” Frieda said. “I just don’t want Ken to have to endure any more than he has to.”

“We knew from day one this would be the ultimate end,” Wilson said. “I just didn’t expect it would be this rapid. I guess that’s the hardest part. You just have to accept it. What else can you do? You leave it in God’s hands. That’s all you can do.”

But Ken Wilson kept one agenda item in his own hands. He simply could not resist putting his talent and his passion, which combined the experience of a terminal illness and a career in sales, to use for another sales pitch to promote his product, life.

“If I could be out talking to somebody today, I would,” Wilson said with the glimmer returning to his eyes. “I’d just say look at my journey and where I am now. Get those check-ups. Go get a prostate cancer screening.”

With his family at his side, Ken Wilson passed away on March 2, 2010.