As a pink fire truck pulled up in front of Tony and Becky Pedroza’s home in Franklin Park April 1, two firefighter paramedics stepped out of the vehicle wearing pink coveralls.
The pink fire truck and firefighters are from the area chapter of Pink Heals, an organization that visits those with cancer. It started in 2007 in Glendale, Ariz., and has since expanded to every state.
“It started out as trying to recognize women with cancer,” said Joel Mains, a Downers Grove firefighter who started the local chapter. “Now it’s all kinds of cancer and anyone.”
They came to visit Becky Pedroza, 32, who has a tumor in her brain near where it meets her spine.
Sharon Borkowiz, a family friend, arranged for Pink Heals to make the visit after seeing the pink fire truck visit the restaurant where she works a few years ago.
“I thought would be exciting for Becky and the kids to see the truck,” Borkowiz said.
“It’s awesome,” Becky said of the pink fire truck parked in the middle of the street. “I’ve never seen [a pink fire truck] before. The kids didn’t know it was coming. They ran of the house. My daughter thought something was wrong.”
While this is Becky’s first time meeting a pink fire truck, it’s not her first time with cancer. In February 2012, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Surgery in August 2013 took care of it and for almost a year she was cancer-free. Pedroza has blogged about her experience with cancer at http://www.sincerelysurrender.com.
In August 2014, Becky and her family were in California for a wedding, she began feeling sick again.
“She was stumbling a lot and tripping and weaving while she was driving,” said her mother, Mariann Rodriguez. “She called a doctor while at the wedding. They later did an MRI and diagnosed she had a tumor.”
Due to its location, the tumor could not be operated on. Pedroza underwent a type of radiation treatment called Cyber Knife which initially shrunk the tumor, although it has since grown again. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy.
“Right now, she’s OK,” said Tony Pedroza. “It’s been rough. If I believed in statistics, she’d have been gone three years ago.”
The Pink Heals fire truck is covered with an estimated 75,000 to 100,000 signatures by those with cancer or those who know or knew someone with cancer.
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“Keep fighting, Zachery,” reads one.
“Madi, forever my hero,” reads another.
“In memory of…” or “Miss you…” read hundreds of others.
The firefighters handed a black marker to Becky Pedroza, who signed her name on the side of the truck.