Veteran R&B deejay Silas “SiMan Baby” Alexander, 58, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
He made the announcement on a video on his public Facebook page on his 58th birthday Saturday.
UPDATE: His family announced his death on March 2, 2022.
Alexander, whose signature on-air self-descriptive has been the emphatic “SiMan Baby!,” was on Atlanta radio three decades, including WIGO-AM, V-103, Kiss 104.1, Classic Soul 1025 and most recently Majic 107.5/97.5 until 2018. He has also regularly hosted late-night parties at clubs over that time, most recently at Club Bolts in Atlanta off Gresham Road.
For the past two years, Alexander has been co-hosting a syndicated show with rap legend Chubb Rock on about a dozen stations in markets like Columbus and Augusta. But he hasn’t been on any station in metro Atlanta in about a year.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Journal Constitution on Sunday, the Douglasville resident said he was diagnosed in June but chose not to publicize his situation until this weekend.
While getting gall-bladder surgery, he said, the doctors discovered cancerous growths in his liver that originated in his pancreas.
He said has been on a chemotherapy and radiation regimen that forced him off the air. He also hasn’t been able to do his club appearances.
The treatment “has its challenges,” he said. “But I’m working through it the best I can. I’m making it work.”
Kathy Jenkins, a former promotions director for both Radio One and Cox Radio and close friend, recently posted a GoFundMe page to encourage folks to donate and help him and his family out. Although he has health insurance, he said bills have been piling up since he can’t work.
“We believe that there is absolutely nothing too hard for God,” Jenkins wrote. “Please join us in prayer for his total healing and let’s show SiMan Baby how much we love and appreciate him by making this birthday weekend extra special.”
In an email, Jenkins said she considers Alexander a mentor and a brother. “I created his GoFundMe page to help him because I understand the astronomical expenses that come with cancer treatment,” she wrote. “Si would never ask anyone for help, but he has been so generous with his time over the years that I want us to support him during this challenge.”
She added: “Si is the sweetest and most down-to-earth personality in the business. He is also humble and kind, which is rare in this business.”
According to the American Cancer Society, the relative five-year survival rate for someone with pancreatic cancer that has spread to the liver or other distant organs is 3%.
Alexander, an Eatonton native who was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame in 2018, is aware of the odds. His father, he said, died of pancreatic cancer at age 69 nearly a quarter-century ago.
“We would rather fight it out as long as we can,” he said. “Don’t give me an expiration date.”
For Alexander, who describes himself as a “workaholic,” he said he’s spending more quality time with his wife, Sandra, and his 21-year-old son, Silas IV.
“We never know when we’re going to go,” Alexander said. “I hate that this is an indicator that mine may be sooner than I had originally expected. But it gives me time to get things in place in regards to my family. It gives me perspective. Enjoy your time here and enjoy it with your family and friends that you love. It’s now in God’s hands. I am glad to have a lot of prayer warriors out there.”
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