Pink Heals ambulance stops in Peru for Pink Ribbon Club – Shaw Local

When Sue Mowbray, of Peru, was diagnosed with breast cancer as a paramedic, her coworkers invited the Pink Heals Fire Truck to come for a visit.

“It meant so much to me,” she said. “The Peru Fire Department was there, La Salle ambulance was there. The EMS services are like one big family.”

Mowbray said having a large support group helped her after she was diagnosed in September 2021, after she found a lump and assumed she only had pulled a muscle.

“When I came back to work after surgery, they made sure I was lifting with somebody else,” she said. “Or I was eating properly and was taking a nap when they could tell I was feeling sick. They made sure I was taken care of.”

The camaraderie and understanding were part of the reason she chose to join the Pink Ribbon Club. Mowbray said if you don’t talk about it, your mind just goes to the “bad stuff.”

“If I needed to I could call any one of them and talk to them,” she said. “If I had a question I could call somebody and say ‘I’m not handling this well.’ ‘I don’t know what my body’s going through.’”

The Pink Ribbon Club gathered and celebrated as a group Wednesday to honor the survivors and remember those lost to cancer.

“We have to take the sorrow and the pain and try to infuse it into some good.”

—  Nancy Jackson, co-founder Pink Ribbon Club

The group hosted The Sauk Valley Chapter Pink Heals Ambulance with President Brian Tribley and his wife. They spent time visiting with attendees allowing those to share their breast cancer journey and sign their ambulance to honor the survivors, those who are going through treatments and those they have lost.

“So, when people read it they can be encouraged by it,” Tribley said. “And signing represents to us that you are joining our Pink Heals family – not just locally but nationwide.”

The group lit lanterns with the names of survivors, those currently battling, or ones lost to cancer.

Co-founder Nancy Jackson said the group had lost incredible women this year, but they had to stick together to make the world a better place for everyone.

“They are not just names on bags,” she said. “These people are our family … We have to take the sorrow and the pain and try to infuse it into some good.”