how do I tell him how I feel about him?

i have a dear friend that I want to be more than a friend. I have tried to be there for him and show him I care. I watched him fall apart when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and could no longer work. He is in his early 60's and has worked all his life. He had nice things, he bought expensive things for the woman he was with. Suddenly, he could no longer work cause of the cancer. One day, he stopped along side the road and picked wild flowers for her. She threw them in his face and told him he was half a man cause he couldn't buy her the expensive gifts and flowers he used to buy her. This nearly broke him. I ad his sister have been there for him. In the past 6 months, I have started to fall in love with him. I dont want him to think I pity him. He is a proud man. His sister says he likes me too..but that he is not working and feels he has no right to be with a woman if he cant buy things for her. I dont want that from him. I want to be there for him. I want to be the woman this wonderful, caring, proud man deserves. I have posted in the past that I have never been in love, I have never felt that "rush" and for a long time, my feelings for him was just a friend..but now, i truly believe, that I am in love