Doctor who never turns a cancer patient away

The fact that 62-year-old Dr. Silas Charles showed up at his Cancer Center office in Melbourne on Thanksgiving evening for our interview is only more proof of his passion.

As he walked us through the office, he showed us a mural on the wall of dolphins. He said, "When we were building this place, we thought it would be important to give patients positivity. We even had to change that mouth on the dolphin a few times to make him smile!"

And then he laughs the laugh that all who know him have come to recognize as the manifestation of his eternal optimism. It's that attitude that all who know him credit for his great success.

Dr. Charles has the state of the art cancer center in Melbourne, and six others in Brevard and Indian River counties just like it. He said there are more to come too. And here's the really admirable part... He said he never turns a cancer patient away because they don't have money or insurance.

Dr. Charles said, "I hate to say it out loud, but we've made a mockery of our health care system." FOX 35 Reporter Tracy Jacim asked, "You treat people who don't have money, and you do it with state of the art technology. How do you do all that?" Dr. Charles said, "There are things called banks! They give the money and you go ahead and buy it...that's how we did it."

Again, he laughs that laugh. But that's not the only way he funds his mission. He founded the Cancer Care Foundation, and raises $350,000 a year to help his patients pay their bills and expenses while they undergo treatment he often gives for free. He became a doctor to honor his family. His grandmother who died from cancer in India, never able to get treatment because there wasn't any treatment near enough to be had. His father who taught him to always give back. He's opened orphanages overseas for boys whose parents have died from cancer. And even though just last year he fought his own battle with lymphoma, he has no plans of stopping...not even close.

"Anybody that enters through that door, we really don't care what their insurance is, we don't care if they could pay or not, we go ahead and treat," said Dr. Silas.

Dr. Charles has offices at the Cancer Care Centers of Brevard. For more information, log onto www.cancercarebrevard.com .