Newspaper columnist, Bill Brooks became well known in Calgary as the guy who covered other people's stories.
He lost his uncle in the mid 1990's to prostate cancer and a friend in the hotel industry suggested that he host a gala of his own to raise money for the disease.
"And he approached me and said Brooksie, let's do an event and you pick a charity. It has to be philanthropic in nature," said Brooks, "Nothing was being done to get the awareness out, let alone raise monies for prostate cancer, so fate dealt that deck of cards."
Brooks has raised a lot of money for prostate cancer over the last 13 years and has been instrumental in raising awareness about the disease.
His gala, Tie One On, has grown into one of the biggest fund raisers in Canada for prostate cancer and he has collected over $4 million so far.
Steve Jones is the President and CEO of Prostate Cancer Canada and he says Brooks' efforts do not go unnoticed.
"I don't know what the City of Calgary would do without Bill Brooks and I don't know what the fight against prostate cancer would do without Bill Brooks," said Jones, "He has been a one man show for a lot of years. He gets a lot of help in doing what he does but it's been his inspiration his motivation and the guy's passion is amazing."
This year's event raised over $1 million for research, education, and patient support services.
