Craig Melvin, the popular co-anchor of NBC’s Today, revealed his brother, Lawrence Meadows passed away at 43 years old after battling colon cancer.

On Saturday Dec. 12, Melvin, 41, wrote on Instagram, “We lost our older brother this week. Lawrence Meadows was a husband (to Angela, his childhood sweetheart), father (to Addie, 11 and Lawson, 7) Baptist minister, entrepreneur, and one of the best human beings you would’ve ever known.”

He continued, “Colon cancer robbed him and us of so much. He was diagnosed at 39. He died Wednesday at 43. He spent a fair amount of time over the past few years raising awareness about the disease. We’ll be keeping up that fight. We love you, bro.”

Melvin first revealed his brother was fighting colon cancer on an episode of Today in February     of         2017.

He also told PEOPLE in April of 2020, “Here’s a guy who didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, and lived a clean life, played football in college. He was 39 at the time.” Melvin also added, “We didn’t know about a family history of it. And then all of a sudden you start asking questions and you realize, oh, wait a minute. Our grandma had colon cancer. We didn’t know she had colon cancer. No one ever talked about it.”

According to the Office of Minority Health (OMH) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), African-Americans are twice as likely to die from the disease, with Black men dying up to five years earlier than white men.

While there’s no magic pill to prevent colon cancer, there are things that can be done to ensure it is kept at bay. Getting screened regularly for the disease when you turn 50, eating right, working out and limiting the amount of liquor you drink can all help.

This year alone, 43-year old actor Chadwick Boseman died on August 28 from Stage 3 colon cancer after being diagnosed in 2016. Most recently, comedic actress Natalie Desselle Reid died on December 7, 2020 at the age of 53. Her family confirmed the cause of death was from a long battle with colon cancer.