A Columbus-based foundation focused on prostate cancer awareness wants to amplify its message in the Ohio Valley — and it will hold a gala with a tie of a different color to do so.

Brave Men Inc. will present its “Blue Tie Gala: An Evening Of Hope” at 5 p.m. Saturday at River City Ale Works in downtown Wheeling. The blue color in the theme represents prostate cancer awareness.

Brave Men Inc. was created by the late Dimitrious Stanley, a former Ohio State wide receiver, and his wife Jessica. Stanley was diagnosed in 2019 at age 45 with prostate cancer, passing away in 2023. In the couple’s loneliness and search for support for the disease, they created Brave Men Inc. to give men dealing with prostate cancer that outlet.

“Dimitrious was a really popular guy,” said Crissy Clutter, a member of Brave Men Inc.’s Ohio Valley Board. “He’s not someone you think would be afraid. But cancer doesn’t discriminate.

“When Dimitrious found out he had cancer, (Jessica) talked to us about how he felt scared and lonely,” Clutter continued, “and he really wanted to make it so other people, when they found out something like this, would have people to talk to.”

The organization helps prostate cancer patients through support via a private Facebook group and through “Brave Boxes,” care boxes that include items like pain relievers, body wipes and a “life after prostate cancer” brochure.

The evening will feature appetizers, a dinner, a silent auction, a local DJ and a PSA testing information table. The featured speaker will be Dr. Angelo Georges, chair of the internal medicine department at WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital. According to the organization, prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths for men and is the most diagnosed cancer of men in West Virginia.

“Historically speaking, Wheeling Hospital, now WVU Medicine, has always been a leader in prostate cancer [diagnosis],” Georges said in a release. “I’ve been ordering PSA tests on my patients since the early 1990s on everybody over 40. The fact that I was diagnosed with prostate cancer one year ago made me hypervigilant about pursuing my own patients for screening.”

Clutter said the gala will be both entertaining and informative.

“It’s going to be a great event,” she said, “and along with having a good time it’s also an opportunity to spread awareness and get people help if they need it.”

Anyone interested in attending the gala can call or text Clutter at 304-280-3414.