Tarrant County commissioner Brooks to undergo surgery

Tarrant County Commissioner Roy C. Brooks will have surgery Thursday for prostate cancer.

“Thursday evening, I expect to be cancer-free,” the 66-year-old announced Tuesday during the commissioners’ weekly meeting. “In choosing to have this surgery, I choose life.”

Between now and then, he told a crowd gathered in the commissioners’ courtroom in the Tarrant County Administration Building, “if you feel like talking to the Boss upstairs, put in a good word for me.”

He hopes to be back at work in 10 days, no later than when budget hearings start Aug. 17.

“We will certainly keep you in our prayers and look forward to having you back with us,” Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley told Brooks.

After the meeting, Brooks told the Star-Telegram that he first learned of a problem when doctors found “cancerous lesions” during a biopsy in 2012.

They monitored the lesions with regular testing to make sure they didn’t grow. But in April, tests showed that they were larger.

“I’m feeling fine,” Brooks said. “I have no symptoms, no pain or discomfort. But there’s a ticking time bomb that is growing in my body.

“It had grown in both size and intensity,” he said. “It was time to stop the surveillance and do something about it.”

His surgery is scheduled for Thursday, nearly two years to the day after his brother died of prostate cancer.

Brooks, a county commissioner for 10 years, has long encouraged people to educate themselves about prostate cancer.

“Men of color are at a much higher risk of prostate cancer than the rest of the population, even more so if there’s a family history,” Brooks said. “It’s prudent we all know our prostate status.

“Once we know that, we should act to choose to live.”

This story was originally published August 4, 2015 at 3:17 PM with the headline "Tarrant County commissioner Brooks to undergo surgery."