In this episode of the On Call for Men’s Health Podcast, we sit down with Alex Kimbrough, a longtime Emmy Award-winning director at Fox 2 Detroit, to explore his deeply personal and professional journey. While known for his behind-the-scenes presence in news broadcasting, Alex opens up about his upbringing, the influence of Cass Technical High School, his health battles, and his path to transformation.
We begin by understanding Alex’s role in news production, where he walks us through the intensity of live directing, managing chaos in real time, and what it takes to make a newscast flow seamlessly. Alex’s pride in his alma mater, Cass Tech, is palpable. He shares how it was a formative institution that shaped his sense of identity and excellence, and how its alumni have quietly but powerfully impacted the world.
We then shift to more emotional terrain as Alex recalls his friendship with former Fox 2 General Manager Jeff Murray, whose tragic suicide in 2011 left a permanent mark. Alex also opens up about being the director behind monumental events like the funerals of Coleman Young, Rosa Parks, and Aretha Franklin, moments that defined Detroit history and his own career.
Health becomes a central theme as Alex reflects on his own struggles, including obesity, hypertension, kidney disease, and seizures. His turning point came through bariatric surgery, a step he resisted for years but ultimately embraced. He credits his wife Rosalyn, a breast cancer “conqueror,” and his son for giving him strength and purpose. Their support—and his desire to be present for life’s future moments, like dancing at his granddaughter’s wedding—propelled him toward lasting change.
Alex discusses the psychological and emotional impact of weight loss, the changes in news media over the decades, and how legacy media is adapting to the digital era. He also shares his pride in producing The Hunt, a reality-style news segment on unemployment, which earned him an Emmy and reaffirmed his creative vision.
We close with Alex’s reflections on fatherhood, legacy, and resilience. His mantra, “I can’t want this more than you,” serves as a call to personal responsibility and action. He’s now living as “Alex 2.0,” intent on advocating for men’s health, encouraging others to take ownership of their wellness, and setting an example for his family and community.
Links: Michigan Men's Health Foundation: https://www.michiganmenshealthfoundation.org
The Pink Fund: https://www.pinkfund.org
Cass Technical High School: https://www.detroitk12.org/casstech
Dr. Michael Lutz (00:06):
Welcome to the On Call for Men's Health Podcast, and I'm Dr. Michael Lutz. This is where we talk about things you don't want to talk about, but these are conversations that could save your life for the lives of the men you love. So, thank you for joining us.
Today, we're going to talk to Alex Kimbrough. He's more than just a news producer; we're going to talk about his healthcare journey and why it's important to all of us. How are you?
Alex Kimbrough (00:31):
I'm just fine, doctor. Thank you very much for having me on.
Dr. Michael Lutz (00:33):
Alex is an Emmy Award-winning director and producer at WJBK Fox 2 since 1986. He's a very proud graduate of Cass Technical High School and Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and we're thrilled to have him here.
And Alex, this is just going to be a great, great time to chat with you. What do producers and directors do at the news studio? I don't think everybody knows.
Alex Kimbrough (00:55):
Well, I started out as an associate producer and the producer's role basically is the person who organizes the elements that's needed for a production, whether it's the videos or bringing in the talent, creating the story, and doing a lot of writing.
What I do mostly now is directing, and I direct the newscast every day and I do the morning show. I'm the person in the control room who basically corrals all the elements and puts them on the air. I'm the one who says “standby.” I do the countdowns, I call the camera shots, I cue the talent, or I cue the floor director to cue the talent. I call for the rolling of the videos, and I'm the one who fades to black at the end. And I do it live; that's the other thing.
Dr. Michael Lutz (01:38):
I guarantee you nobody has a clue as to all that work that goes on to make a newscast real.
Alex Kimbrough (01:44):
True. But people watch it every day; I do it every day. And the good thing about it is if I do make mistakes, I get another shot at it another day.
Dr. Michael Lutz (01:53):
Yes, tomorrow always arrives. One of the things I love about your story is that you're very proud of Cass Tech. Cass Tech has been part of your heart and soul, and every time you get a chance, you talk about it. Why is Cass Tech such an important place in your life?
Alex Kimbrough (02:09):
Because growing up, I didn't know anything about it. This was something my parents wanted me to do. They wanted me to go to Cass, and it's a high school in downtown Detroit. The thing about Cass is that its mission was to create and build upon young people at an early age to give them choices, to highlight their intelligence, to bring a blend of different people from different cultures and different backgrounds to be educated together.
Now, I say for the record, every school has greatness in it. Every high school, middle school, there's someone gifted who's talented, they're all there. The thing about Cass is that it was a coming together. You had to qualify to be there.
So, pretty much everyone there was at Cass because they've set a standard. And it was something about being isolated in that downtown Detroit area. You're away from your neighborhood, you're away from all your other friends, that we created this sort of communal feeling in a family, and it has lasted all these years.
There are people who went to Cass Tech from decades ago and we can meet them, and there's something about us, and it's like we went through something together. Even though every decade was different, there was a similarity to it, and it has helped to tell us that we can be anything and do anything.
Ther are Cass technicians in all aspects of everything. There are probably Cass technicians in everyone's family that they probably didn't know about. And I celebrate it because there's a lot of negative things about Detroit, but Detroit still has Cass, and Cass has blossomed its way out into every aspect of this country, even globally. So, I'm proud of it. I'm proud to be a part of it, and I will always and forever be a Cass technician.
Dr. Michael Lutz (04:03):
They had some really famous graduates. I was even looking through the list the other day: Diana Ross, Lily Tomlin, Della Reese, David Alan Grier, John DeLorean, Big Sean, and that's just to name a handful in a list of hundreds of people who've graduated Cass Tech and been a part of that community. Why do you think Cass Tech was such a birthplace for success?
Alex Kimbrough (04:24):
I think it's because how the school positioned itself. It tried to enhance the students. It made it almost like a college, but yet you're 13, 14-years-old, and it demanded a lot of us. There was a higher standard of grading.
In some schools, if you get a C for the entire semester, that was not a big deal. But at Cass, if you didn't make the grade, they will start to call your parents and say perhaps you are not ready to be at Cass Tech, and you should go back to your neighborhood high school.
From freshman year on, you are taught and told you have been selected to be here, and there's an expectation, there's an historical expectation for you. And we embraced it. Some did not. Some thought that Cass was full of it and we didn't want to be a part of it, and they said, “I don't want to stay here.”
But for those who stuck it out, we did. The population of the city changed over the years. In my graduating class, we had maybe 800 to 900 people. There were times that there would be over a thousand graduates from Cass. The size of the school and the population of the student body I think has gone down to I think 2,500 now. But when I was there, there were 5,000 kids.
The building that I was in was the third incarnation of Cass Tech. There had been four Cass Techs, and I was in what they call the classical historical Cass Tech, and it was 800,000 square feet of building, and we walked every inch of it.
So, it's been around for over a hundred years, and it's still there and we're still proud of it, and every graduating class still represents the essence of what we are.
Dr. Michael Lutz (06:12):
Over the years, I've been fortunate to have had an acquaintance with you, and all of the other members of the Fox 2 family, and it's been great with Murray Feldman, Dana Hahn and Deena Centofanti, Katie Fehr, and Jeff Murray. And I am sure Jeff Murray is someone that you obviously would remember well.
And I remember him very well. In 2011, we sat together in his office and talked about our plans of creating immense health event to help our underserved Detroit community, and he was so excited. I remember him, he literally jumped out of his chair, he stood on his chair and started jumping up and down on his chair. And I'd never seen any executive of any news organization do that.
And as you know, he subsequently committed suicide, literally just before our men's health event. And we dedicated not only that event to him, but we have a Jeff Murray Award that we honor every year in honor of him, where we fund a student at one of the local medical schools to commit a year's worth of men's health research, and they get a thousand dollars scholarship in honor of Jeff Murray.
What did Jeff's life mean to you and how did it impact you when he had committed suicide?
Alex Kimbrough (07:24):
Jeff was at the station when I started. He was a salesperson in the sales department when they were old school sales guys. They would go out and have the three-martini lunches and they would go and meet with the clients.
Jeff was always fun, vivacious, loud, but very enjoyable. And over the years, when he made his way to become the general manager, we were proud of him. And he always had sort of like a cheerleader spirit about Fox 2. And Jeff and I used to do lunch. It was my idea. I said, “Jeff, let's go have lunch.”
And once a month, we would go to his favorite place, to Pita Cafe, which I didn't realize he went there as often as he did. And I had one rule, “While we are here, we cannot talk about Fox 2. This is not going to be one of those meetings where I'm going to sit there and give you grievance issues. We're going to talk about anything and everything, but it will not be about the station.”
So, he talked about his kids, he talked about his son, Guido, that he was going to give him a Lincoln as his first car, and I thought, “You're crazy. You're going to bring him a luxury vehicle for a 16-year-old kid?” And he didn't understand why I was saying that.
But he allowed the station to grow, he allowed the managers to manage. And you mentioned Dana Hahn. Dana Hahn was news director while he was there, and he recognized that he didn't know news, and he let Dana do what she wanted to do. And that's how the news department really flourished and got very, very creative.
To this day, I truly, truly miss Jeff. It shocked all of us. We don't know what happened, and because I knew he loved his family so much, I don't know what would have caused him to do what he did. And we suffered a long time. For 11 months, we didn't have a general manager. And there was this vacuum and this gap, and we were stunned.
It was a rough time because also during that time period, our anchor, Sherry Margolis, lost her husband during that same time period. And unfortunately, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer during that time period. A lot of negative things, but as it is with life, we all get through it.
And I remember Jeff fondly, but as someone said to me once, we all grew up together, and we grew up together at Fox 2.
Dr. Michael Lutz (09:43):
Yeah, and there's no question that it really is a family life there, that everybody does treat each other more than just working partners. And you can feel it when you walk through the studio all the time.
During the years, you must have had a favorite news story. There must have been one that kind of you still get excited about to this day. Do you recall that?
Alex Kimbrough (10:02):
A news story? There were certain things that I did. For some reason, I became the funeral guy. I directed the funeral of Coleman Young. I directed the funeral of Rosa Parks. But the last big funeral I did, and I did it for the planet, was Aretha Franklin. I directed the feed that went to all the networks and went to the BBC, and it went everywhere.
I sat in there, there was another director who helped me out, for 10 hours. We did that event, and it was to see the people who came in and showed their love for Aretha, and it was such a wonderful celebration and yet, a sadness to it. And I said that there were only going to be three major funerals in Detroit, and I ended up doing all three of them.
Now, there's a possibility there may be a fourth. I don't know if it's going to happen here or not, and that'll be Berry Gordy, he's in his nineties. I don't know if the funeral will be here or if it'll be in Los Angeles or wherever else. So, I'm bracing for that to find out what's going to happen.
But outside of that, all the parades, I've done a variety of parades, celebrations, and I was gearing up for the Lions parade, but not quite there yet. But there's this year, we don't know. So, possibly.
Dr. Michael Lutz (11:28):
Yeah, we all wish together. Since you've been in the news industry, how do you think it's changed?
Alex Kimbrough (11:34):
There are things that we put on TV that we didn't do before. We show unfortunately, I think a little more man's anger toward other men. We show a little more violence. We are showing videos that we would normally have not have shown. The influence of social media has made its way into our newscasts. We show a lot of things that just people from TikTok videos or Instagram videos that may have little to no real news value, but they're interesting to see, and we've made time for that in our news.
We still do the regular hard news stuff. We still give the information that we feel that people need, but we've infected it with a lot of other things. And some that I don't like, but I'm not in the position to make those decisions. I direct and put the shows out as given to me, and there's just a lot of it. And that's the other part.
We have so much news now. At my station, the morning show alone is nine hours. I don't know, is it too much? Is it not enough? I don't know. Because we're in a 24-hour news cycle world now, and sometimes, it can be overwhelming.
So, I do my part. We are called “legacy media” now, because the new media is what we're doing at this moment, podcasting. But I'm here at the tail end of seeing how technology has affected how we do things. Doing something like this, we used to have to have people go out to places with camera gear and shoot interviews like this, not anymore.
I could do this on my laptop or on my phone. And we are having an interview, it could be live or recorded or whatever.
Dr. Michael Lutz (13:23):
Over the years, you've met a lot of people and I'm just curious, who's been one of your greatest inspirations since you've been in this business?
Alex Kimbrough (13:33):
Locally, there have been other directors — other directors at Fox 2 who taught me how to do this. I never went to school for this. I wanted to be a filmmaker. I ended up in television and I never took a television production class. All the directors showed me how to direct.
We've had some wonderful reporters and anchors over the years. I had the honor of working with Bill Bonds at the tail end of his career. He was a consummate professional and was very, very kind to me.
Huel Perkins, who was my son's godfather by the way, and he's always been a joy for my family. My son calls him Uncle Huel. And I worked with him on his shows, and he was always just the most pleasant, wonderful person.
I love Sherry Margolis. Sherry is such a sweetheart.
A reporter that we don't talk about a lot is Nancy McCauley. Nancy was one of the first on-air people I directed. She was way too sweet to be in TV news, just too sweet. But she was a hardcore professional person, I loved the heck out of her.
I've done a lot of things in TV, and I appreciate everyone's patience in working with me. It's not an easy business. It can be a challenging business, but I've done it for so many years and hopefully, I can find my replacement because that's my new goal. I want somebody to replace me because I don't want to be the one person to do everything. I need somebody to take over at some point.
Dr. Michael Lutz (15:08):
Yeah. I know you said one of your proudest moments was getting an Emmy. So, what was it like to win an Emmy and what was it for?
Alex Kimbrough (15:16):
My Emmy wasn’t completely unexpected. I did a series at my station called The Hunt. The news director, Laura Moore, came up with the name. I never liked the name, but it's what she wanted, so we did it.
And I had the idea because I was in the news department, I wanted to do something just a little different. I wanted to follow three Metro Detroiters who were unemployed, and I wanted to follow their journey to find a job. I pitched the idea to Lauren Moore, she said, “That's great. How are we going to do this?” And I had no idea how I was going to do it. I just figured it out on my own.
There was a photographer named Jeff Jewell who was very cinematic in his thinking and how he shot. When we did auditions, we found people, and I wanted to do a variation of who they were. I found a grandmother who had been unemployed for years, a college student who was about to graduate, and I found a convicted felon who had a difficult time finding work because of his felony convictions.
And it was five episodes, and we followed each of them as to the ups and downs of how to find a job in Metro Detroit. In the end, only one of them found employment. It was the college student. And I did even something that they do on the cable channels, I had a little luncheon. So, the three of them came together and they talked about their journey, and they compared notes.
And it was just something that ran in our newscasts, and I was challenged to submit it for an Emmy. Lauren Moore, the news director, said, “Alex, you should submit this.” And I was like, “You're crazy. No one's going to buy into this for an Emmy.” She said, “Do it.”
So, I said, “Fine, I'll submit it.” And I submitted it for my partner in crime, Jeff Jewell, and I put our names in. And at the time, I was directing the local Emmy shows. And before the show started, I was going over the clips to see, okay, do we have the winner for this category, the winner for this category?
And all of a sudden, I saw my video. I said, “Oh, that's my video. I wonder why that's here.” It didn't click to me at the moment like, “Wait a minute, I won an Emmy. You got to be kidding me!” So, during the entire show, I knew I had won and it upset my wife, to this day, that I found out before everybody else.
And so, when it came time for the category, somebody replaced me and I stood in the wings to act like I was surprised, and they mentioned my name, I went out and I grabbed the trophy. And I'm very, very proud of that because I got it as a producer, not necessarily as a director.
It was something that I created out of the ether and something different to do a reality show, which I'm not a big fan of reality shows, but I thought this was a way to present this. So, the reality show within the reality show of news.
Dr. Michael Lutz (18:05):
So, the Emmy or producing the story, how did either or both of those actually change your life?
Alex Kimbrough (18:11):
Producing The Hunt proved to me that I can be a successful producer, that my ideas have the ability to come true, that I can do the legwork, and I can succeed at this. Many people do the job that they're assigned, and they don't have any kind of creative output.
I appreciate the fact that Fox 2 and Lauren Moore particularly allowed me to do that and to come up with something, and to do something different. And the fact that it made its way all the way to being judged and judged to be Emmy worthy, just co-signed the fact that, okay, maybe I do have something. Maybe I can be more than just someone who calls shots during the newscast.
I have ideas and it spurred on my creative juices, something that Cass Tech also helped provide, help you to move forward in your dreams and what you can be. So, it helped me to believe in myself more. And so, at my ripe old age of 61, I'm still trying to come up with different things and try to do something new. Maybe not as vivacious as I did in my thirties and forties, but I'm still there.
Dr. Michael Lutz (19:30):
We talked a little bit before about people in your life who were your idols, your people that you really, really treasured. And one person you talked about a bit was about your father and how important your father was in your life and how he influenced you. Tell me a little bit about how you believe he really influenced the way you live your life.
Alex Kimbrough (19:51):
My father came up from a very, very poor beginning in Mississippi. He had dreams to being more than what he was. He wanted to own a restaurant. He wanted to be a doctor actually at one point, but life was what life was and he didn't get the educational opportunities that he did, but he always had a wonderful strong work ethic.
If there was anything anyone could say about my father, he worked. He loved to work, he continued to work, and he believed in work. He believed in having his son and daughter (because I have a sister) to always go out and continue to work and be educated.
My father did not finish high school, but he wanted to make sure that both of his kids got a college degree, and we did. My father wanted to make sure that we both had careers. He was always very, very, very proud of me for doing what I'm doing.
And he would tell anybody, almost to my own detriment, “There's my son, he works at Fox 2.” It's like, “Okay, I'm still just your son. You don't have to brand me that way.” But he was proud, and I wasn't going to stop him.
He was a man of great morals and a strong man. One of those type of fathers where when he came into the room, you straightened up and you gave him his due respect. And I hope that I embody some of that. And some people say I do. I don't think I'm to the level that my father always was, but I'm trying to get there.
My son seems to think that I am, and I've tried to impose that on him as well. But again, my son's 23 and he's still trying to figure out life. But he remembers my father, because my father died when my son was only two, so he didn't have a great memory of him, but he did have that time with him.
And I think my father, who watched my son a lot, tried to embed some of himself in my son so that when he was gone, my son was to have some of Billy Kimbrough in him.
Dr. Michael Lutz (21:53):
You mentioned that becoming a father was a major lifetime moment. How did that affect you as you moved down through your life?
Alex Kimbrough (22:01):
I never expected to be a father; I never expected to be married. I was always this overweight kid, didn't think anyone had any interest in me. And the fact that I not only ended up getting married, which is a story in and of itself – but I ended up having a child and I couldn't believe it. I'd never really dealt with young people before, but I had this brand-new baby who I loved dearly.
And I think because I had him at an older age, I was in my thirties when he was born, I was more mature than I would've been as a 20-year-old man or someone in his early twenties. So, I had more of an appreciation for the gift of being a father and fatherhood.
So, the responsibility is weighty still, because I have to make myself an example to him. My behavior and the things I believe in, I have to maintain and show him, but I also want him to be proud of me. I was proud of my father; I want my son to be proud of everything that his dad does. And I have learned over the years that he does brag about me a little bit like – well, that's nice. I'm glad that that happens. And I brag about him too.
And I think that's very important for fathers to set an example for their children, whatever gender they may be, and stand out as that shining example for them because that does carry on. My father has been gone 20 years, but it doesn't matter, his example is still here. I want years after I'm gone, that my example continues on, and that's something important for fathers to do.
Dr. Michael Lutz (23:44):
You shared your personal life story in the Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers, and I watched this video twice because it was that moving, and you particularly moved me when you shared your story about being that kid at the age of five when another kid in your class pointed out that you were fat.
Alex Kimbrough (24:03):
Yes.
Dr. Michael Lutz (24:04):
And you said until then, you never knew you were fat, and that it would exclude you from ever liking a girl named Wendy. I'm just kind of curious, how has your weight been a part of your life and affected your adolescence?
Alex Kimbrough (24:18):
My weight has been probably one of the most singular detriments to my life. The story that you said you watched was, unfortunately, a true story. And I was a fat kid up until pretty much two years ago. And my weight has kept me from pretty much everything.
I was not athletic, I didn't play sports, it damaged my psyche. It made me despise myself over the years and probably, there's some therapists somewhere wondering where was I, I probably should sit down and lay down on a couch somewhere and talk about it.
And on top of everything else, affected other parts of my health. I couldn't move, my knees are hurting now, my organs have had issues with it. But from my personal standpoint, my weight and being overweight has kept me from, I think probably moving forward, even career-wise. I think I've had a pretty decent career, but there were other things I wanted to do, but I truly, truly became a tired, lazy man in my early years of life.
Fortunately, I made a change that's allowed me now to have a new lease on life. And all of my doctors who were seeing me over the years didn't think pretty much I was going to make it to the age I made it. And here I am now, and now they're very, very, very happy. And I'm not used to going to doctor's appointments when my doctors are just smiling at me. So, that's something new.
Dr. Michael Lutz (25:56):
So, when you look in the mirror, do you see that fat kid with glasses or do you now see somebody else?
Alex Kimbrough (26:05):
It took a while for me to see someone else because at first, I didn't see the weight loss, which was odd, and I had lost a significant amount of weight, and I didn't see it. My wife saw it immediately, and over time, I started to see it in a mirror, and then I started to see it in the eyes of other people.
It's still strange to this day slightly when people see me and they see me as, and forgive the term, normal. I have coworkers who remember me from before, and they see how radically different it is. It's the psychological and the emotional part of all of this, which was really striking to lose that much weight, which is a life-changing thing.
And it took me a while to get used to this, but I started to come around to it now. I feel a little bit more confident in the way I look and the way I walk, and the way I act. And I didn't have that before. Being a man in my sixties, that's kind of different.
Dr. Michael Lutz (27:06):
Well, you talked about being almost 400 pounds and losing a complete person, probably the person you never wanted to have in your life at all. So, it's good to get rid of that person in your life weight-wise as well. How do you envision Alex 2.0?
Alex Kimbrough (27:23):
Well, that's the new adventure now because the loss of weight has given me a new lease on life. At the end of the video that you saw, I said I intend to … I was 60-years-old when I did that video, I intend to live another 60, as humorous or odd as that may be.
I do truly feel that I am going to live a longer life now, and I have a better mindset as to how I function in my life. I want to do different things. I've been at Fox 2, now, this will be 39 years coming up in September. And I have to start thinking, okay, I don't want to do another 39 years of directing. What other things can I do?
So, I'm starting to explore things. I did a speaking engagement recently. People say I have a decent voice. Perhaps, I could do some guest speaking. I’d like to speak on health and try to encourage people to take care of their health because I was absolutely terrible about trying to maintain my health.
Writing more. I actually enjoy writing. There's just other things I want to do and enjoy life with my wife more. And I want to be there to watch my son grow and who knows, maybe be a grandfather one day, and I want my grandkids to know their grandfather.
I made a promise to my son that I'm going to be around to dance at his daughter's wedding, and right now, he's 23. He has a girlfriend, no kids, he says, thank you. But when the time comes, I intend to be here and see that beautiful young lady.
If he happens to have a daughter, I'm going to dance with her, whether I have a walker or a cane, or they're going to push me out of a chair, I'm going to be there for her and keep that promise to my son.
Dr. Michael Lutz (29:16):
So true. And you were asked what your favorite quote is, and you said, “I can't want this more than you.”
Alex Kimbrough (29:21):
Yes.
Dr. Michael Lutz (29:22):
Tell me what that really means.
Alex Kimbrough (29:24):
People say that they want to do things, they have an idea of doing something, and I want it for them, but many times, they struggle, or it goes by the wayside, and then I try to hold them to it: “You said you were going to do this, you should do this.” And they give me a lot of different reasons as to why.
And I tell them, “Well, I cannot want this more than you. If you really want to do it, then you are going to have to do this.” And I apply the same thing to me. There are things that I want to do, there are things I said I needed to do, and people are holding me to it. They're throwing this back at me: “Alex, they can't want this more than you do. You said you were going to do it, so achieve it.”
That dealt with health, it deals with what I'm going to do later in life. There's a documentary film that I have been working on for 20 years, and I just had a discussion with two people about it: “Where's that documentary? We're waiting for it.” And I gave a lot of excuses health-wise, life situations-wise, but I committed to it, I'm going to do it.
So, anybody who's listening to this and heard me talk about this documentary, I do intend to do it. And in case you're wondering, what is the documentary about – Cass Tech. I was trying to do the history of Cass Tech, so I'm going to do this. But that's what it meant.
It meant that I want to encourage you, whomever you are, to commit to and follow through what you say you're going to do. I can push you along, I can encourage you, but I can't want it more than you.
Dr. Michael Lutz (31:03):
It is such a parallel to one of my favorite quotes, which is, “What are you waiting for?” One of my very near and dear friends who I used to cycle with all the time, who his name is Jeffrey Serno, and back in March of 2015 was killed in a bicycling accident in Hawaii, believe it or not – hit by a police car at a sunrise bike.
And he was bigger than life to all of us in our group. And he would always say, “What are you waiting for?” And a great example of his story is, is a friend of his came up to him one day and said, “They're creating this thing called an Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, are you interested?” And he goes, “Absolutely, let's do it.” And he was one of the first people to ever compete in an Ironman event in Hawaii.
And I always remember whenever I'm thinking about should I do something or not, I always say, well, “What are you waiting for?” Because everybody always says, “Well, I can do that tomorrow or next week or next year or whenever.” But the key thing is to say if you're thinking about it, you should just do it. There's no reason. “What are you waiting for” is really something I always think about.
You talk a little bit about exercise now, now that you're more of the Alex 2.0 than you've ever thought you'd ever be. How is exercise now a part of your life?
Alex Kimbrough (32:17):
I will say for the record, I hate exercise. Never liked it. It's not one of my favorite things. One of the few exercises that I tolerated growing up was bike riding. I did enjoy riding a bike. But getting to a gym, doing the bending and the stretching and the lifting and stuff, couldn't stand it. And I still don't like it.
However, I know that it works, I know that it's necessary. So, my new philosophy is on the days where I really don't feel like going to the gym, I go to the gym. I joined a gym, I actually have a trainer, which I also hate, but I do have one. And I go through the things that he (his name is Jay) tells me to do. I also had some physical therapy.
Now, I'm a big believer in physical therapy. I've seen physical therapy work and work for me, so I do appreciate that. But exercise is necessary, whether it's walking, whether it's biking, whether it's just bending your body here, there and everywhere. But I will just say for the record, I've never liked it, but I will do it because it helps, and I need it.
Dr. Michael Lutz (33:30):
Well, you talk about your life in a healthier journey that you're now on, and you've talked about some of your health problems: your weight, hypertension, kidney disease, and seizures. How have your wife and son separately dealt with your health journey?
Alex Kimbrough (33:48):
I am constantly apologizing to them for putting them through what I've done to myself. Because I work very, very early in the morning at Fox 2. Sometimes these events have happened while I was at work, and the station would have to call my wife in the middle of the night that Alex had this issue, Alex was on the floor.
I remember they found me on the floor in the office of my office once, and they called her and I had to go to the hospital. Sometimes she would've to pack up my son when he was younger, drive out to pick me up, and then take me to the nearest hospital.
I have done a terrible thing to the both of them because they shouldn't have to deal with that. And it was all me. Everything that happened to me was my own fault for not taking better care of myself. And I feel terrible that I put them through that.
When my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and I was having my own issues, she and I were just going back and forth to hospitals, and my young son told me that through his entire life, both of his parents have been sick. He's never known a time when neither of us have been sick. And that stayed with me, that I have to do something different.
So, my issues of my health needed to change, which is why when she finally told me, “Alex, I want you to go through this bariatric surgery” that she's going through, then I said, “Fine, I will do it.” Because I fought it tooth and nail for years, I wasn't going to do it. My Cass Tech arrogance kicked in, said, “I don't need this, I can lose weight on my own.”
Well, I failed miserably, and as you said, I ballooned up to I think 385 pounds and nothing was working. And I just decided, fine, I will go through this procedure. If you were to talk to the doctors and the people involved with it, they knew that I was just one of the most difficult hardheaded patients.
But because I became this rousing success, I was a story for all of them that I succeeded at this, and it made them feel better. That good, we saved this man's life.
Dr. Michael Lutz (36:04):
While we previously spoke about your dad as one of your heroes, but you also mentioned that your wife, Rosalyn, is your hero, and you described her not just as a cancer survivor, I actually like the word you used, you called her a cancer conqueror, which I've never heard anybody ever refer to a cancer survivor as a conqueror.
Tell me why you believe that the word “conqueror” is so important, and why is she still one of your heroes of your life?
Alex Kimbrough (36:33):
Because she fought cancer. She didn't let cancer just take her over and be a victim of it. When she was diagnosed, I was a mess and I was the one who needed emotional support, and then her friends chastised me, “Alex, you need to man up because your wife's got a fight to go through.”
And that's exactly the tact that she took. She decided to fight it. She was not going to let this stop her. She was going to continue to be a mom and raise our child. So, she took bold steps forward to stop this and keep her here.
So, she conquered this disease. She's been well over 13 years now since her diagnosis and her remission has gone on all this time. She does all the things that she needs to do to stay healthy. She makes all of her appointments. She's changed her life, she changed her weight, changed her eating, and she can now speak intelligently and help others about it.
But she did not let this defeat her. She refused to let it defeat her. She used her endurance and her faith, and I looked at her fight and I couldn't believe the things that she went through, did chemotherapy as well as radiation.
I've seen her just be beaten down by this, but she still kept an upbeat, smiling even during the hard times. She wasn't going to let this stop her. So, I said I don't know who these people are that Marvel has put out there in their cinematic universe, but I married a superhero. I have one in my house.
She doesn't have a cape (actually, she does have a cape), but she still is an outstanding person. And I believe in her strength. She's one of the strongest people I've ever met in life, and God love her.
Dr. Michael Lutz (38:33):
Being a cancer survivor/conqueror or as you refer to, is a totally different experience than any other health journey that anybody can ever understand. There's a person that we actually both know who shared with me her personal story, and she said the cancer survivorship is like driving a car with a permanent back seat passenger.
It's like having that person in the back seat wherever you go. And every once in a while, they poke their head up and remind you that they're there. But oftentimes, they're just laying in the backseat and they're just always there.
And it's giving that perspective to other survivors so that they can actually understand that it's not the same as any other disease process in the human body, and that it requires a different mindset to overcome. And I think that your story about your wife is so important to share because I think that people need to know.
And I know that one of the funds that you really have honored and appreciate is the Pink Fund from Molly McDonald who talks about being a “sur-thriver” versus a survivor. That's actually something she trademarked because she believes that when people survive, it shouldn't be just surviving, it should be thriving. And so, she came up with “sur-thrivership” as a very important goal for people once diagnosed with breast cancer and how they get over the disease.
Alex Kimbrough (39:53):
Molly is a bowl of energy, and she is a person who is dedicated to helping people who are battling the disease, but not only helping people to battle the disease in their journey, but to help them get through life and do the things that the disease has kept them from doing, maintaining their homes, going forward, helping to feed their families because cancer devastates so much.
The Pink Fund comes in and is just a support unit for people all across this area and around the country to help them because that's one less thing that they need to deal with. They're dealing with their health, they need to deal with their day-to-day to make sure that they can keep their home, that they can feed their families, they can have their bills paid.
Molly met my wife initially at one of the storytelling events. My wife was a speaker, and Molly was there as one of the support groups. They clicked, as they would, and my wife has now joined them and helping with the Pink Fund. And I've gone to one of their events, I've helped them out. And it's just a wonderful, joyous organization to be a support group for those who are dealing with cancer.
Molly's story has been quite the story, the journey that she's gone through. She's at the top of her game and then went way down and was able to build herself back up, and she wants to help others do so as well.
So, it's a wonderful organization, very supportive because people who are going through a variety of diseases have all their challenges, but cancer, particularly, the people who are suffering through it, need some type of financial support to get through their day-to-day. And that's what the Pink Fund helps (with).
Dr. Michael Lutz (41:45):
Because of Molly, our foundation started the Blue Fund, and we worked together with her to actually help create the demographics for it. And our Blue Fund actually helps men who are faced with newly diagnosed prostate cancer or a reactivation of their prostate cancer, and we will supply them with up to three months of personal financial support.
And there's no other fund like this anywhere in the nation. And we're very fortunate that we can supply this kind of a fund here in the state of Michigan for Michigan residents who are facing their prostate cancer diagnosis and need to stay whole.
Alex Kimbrough (42:21):
Oh, wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Cancer is one of those things that it doesn't care your status, doesn't care who you are. It is just that evil, I'll call it what it is. It's evil, and it's devastating and it's sneaky, and it can do more damage than you realize.
So, I wish, and I hope, and I pray one day, that it can be, if not completely eradicated, it can be diminished and it can be managed. But in the meantime, it's almost like a family of people who have to … everyone has their journey. We all go through it together and all support one another. So, these organizations, any organization that helps to support each other is a wonderful godsend for all of us.
Dr. Michael Lutz (43:10):
Well, I'm really glad that we're able here to celebrate Alex 2.0. And I just want to ask you one last question: how do you want to be remembered?
Alex Kimbrough (43:22):
The typical answer for most of us is I want to be known as a wonderful father and a wonderful husband. But more than that, I want to be remembered as someone who did the best that he could do, that he wanted to leave a mark, he wanted to help others to move forward, and be an example to others. That as much damage as I'd done to myself, I overcame it, and you can do that too.
So, that will be my lasting legacy. So, one day, remember that guy who used to work at Fox 2, and he was this, but yet he overcame, and it became that? You know what, if he could do it, maybe I could do it too.
[Music Playing]
Dr. Michael Lutz (44:03):
Well, that's how I want to remember you, and thank you. And I do want to say many thanks to Alex Kimbrough for this great conversation, and thank you for joining us.
I'm Dr. Michael Lutz, urologist and founder of the Michigan Men's Health Foundation, and it's through our events, resources, and this podcast that we are dedicated to men's health advocacy and awareness. We're focused on education, research, and treatment of prostate cancer and men's health-related issues.
And for more about the work we do and how you can get involved, visit us online at www.michiganmenshealthfoundation.org.