Pink Heals ambulance stops in Peru for Pink Ribbon Club

When Sue Mowbray of Peru was diagnosed with breast cancer as a paramedic, her co-workers 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 of the 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, allowed people to share their breast cancer journey and signed the ambulance to honor survivors, those who are going through treatments and those who have been 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 cancer or those lost to cancer.

Co-founder Nancy Jackson said the group lost some 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.”