Kenny Brooks announces wife Chrissy is cancer-free, reflects on annual Play4Kay game

In 2023, while he was the head coach at Virginia Tech, Kenny Brooks’ wife Chrissy was diagnosed with breast cancer. He didn’t announce it at the time, but continued to care for her at the end of his time in Blacksburg and as he decided to take the head coach job at Kentucky.

Thursday night’s matchup against Texas marked Brooks’ first Play4Kay cancer awareness game as UK head coach, and it was a moment for him to reflect on the journey of the last two years. In his postgame press conference, though, he announced Chrissy rang the bell in May – signaling she beat the disease.

Chrissy was on hand for Thursday night’s game as part of the Play4Kay awareness night. But as he looked back on what the road to that moment was like, Kenny Brooks got emotional and acknowledged the help he and his family received along the way.

Kenny Brooks talks about his wife, Chrissy, being cancer free and how the power of prayer helped him during the hardest year of his life. pic.twitter.com/pzNzvNzlBv

— Phoenix Stevens (@PStevensKSR) February 14, 2025

“It really puts it into perspective,” Brooks said in the postgame press conference. “This last year has been the hardest year of my life, and to be able to watch my wife walk out there and when they said that she rung the bell on May the 24th, it puts everything into perspective because she’s fought. She’s the strongest person that I know. … We didn’t get to this by ourselves. The power of prayer. She and I kept it to ourselves throughout the basketball season last year, and we finally told people. And we told people, it was the biggest weight lifted off my shoulders because so many people helped us and they prayed for us and they helped us get through it.

“Nights like tonight when you know what you’ve gone through and you know how you’ve gotten through it because of other people, and to be able to bring awareness to this nasty disease, that’s what Vic [Schafer] and I talked about. He has a son who he almost lost. Nights like tonight really puts things in perspective and know that you can’t do it by yourself, and that you have so many people that are helping you.”

Chrissy Brooks’ diagnosis became public in April 2024, right around the time Brooks was weighing the opportunity to take the position at Kentucky. Since his arrival in Lexington, he said the first question he hears from fans isn’t about anything on the basketball court.

Instead, it’s about how his wife is doing. That, to Brooks, shows the power of the fan base and what makes BBN so special.

“The University of Kentucky has been great to me,” Brooks said. “I love it when people come up to me and before they even ask me anything about basketball, they’ll ask me how my wife’s doing. That means everything because family’s first.

“Tonight was special.”