• 10/10/2005
  • Detroit, MI
  • Karen Buffard
  • Detroit News (www.detnews.com)

Sometimes, it’s hard for Bill Downs to speak because a near-fatal bout with cancer robbed him of his salivary glands 15 years ago. But the 70-year-old Detroiter often speaks to community groups — as many as three a week — to share his hopeful tale of surviving cancer.

It’s just one of Downs’ many volunteer efforts. He has devoted his life to volunteer activities, from starting the first Little League team in his neighborhood to coaching Junior Achievement and working on behalf of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and the United Way.

“Sometimes my voice is cracking because I’ve had surgery 11 times in my neck area,” said Downs, who suffered an aggressive form of head and neck cancer. “But I still do volunteer work.

“I’ve been doing it for 35 years, and I think I’ve done just about everything you can think of.”

Born and raised in West Virginia, Downs came to Detroit, where he thought job opportunities would be better. His first job was picking up car parts for mechanics at an auto dealership. But eventually, he opened his own party store, Billy D’s, on the corner of 14th Street and McGraw in Detroit. That’s when the volunteer work started.

“Kids (in the neighborhood) didn’t have anything to do; they were just hanging out and getting in trouble,” Downs said. “I said ‘Why don’t you play some baseball?’

“I got all the instructions on how to start a team, and came back and said ‘I want to have 21 kids in my back yard tomorrow — I want to start a baseball team.’ The next day, there were 52 of ’em. That was my first attempt at Little League.”

Downs eventually took a position at AAA Michigan, where he spent 18 years in management jobs.

In his spare time, Downs was an avid runner, bicyclist and health enthusiast who didn’t smoke or drink. But in 1980 he discovered a small knot on the side of his neck.

“They didn’t expect me to make it,” Downs said. “But the doctors said because of the (excellent) condition of my body, they would like to try a form of chemotherapy that might kill me, but it could maybe keep me alive.”

The side effects included nerve damage to his hands and feet. He also had radiation treatments that destroyed his salivary glands.

“It did a lot of damage to my body, but I’m still alive and I’m still self-sufficient and I’m able to go out and do something for somebody,” Downs said.

When he was well enough, Downs decided to become a speaker for the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, where he was treated for cancer. He is still a patient there for treatment of the chemotherapy’s side effects.

“Whatever he’s asked to do, Bill does,” said Archilind Franklin, director of minority health education at the institute. “It comes from his heart. He believes in what he’s saying, and he believes in Karmanos.”

Downs also instilled the spirit of community service in his children, said his daughter Blanche Mack, who is store director at a Meijer store in Westland.

“He always (said) we need to give back to the community. He’s a wonderful father,” Mack said.

Downs said he volunteers because it makes him feel good. He plans to keep volunteering as long as he is able.

“No amount of money can pay for this feeling that I get,” Downs said. “Every time I finish one project, I always say ‘This is the best feeling in the world,’ until I get to the next project.”