Traveling pink fire truck makes NLV stop

By Mytae Carrasco

Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008 | 1:45 a.m.

The Pink Ribbon Tour stopped in North Las Vegas on Wednesday to raise breast cancer awareness.

A pink fire truck arrived at Craig Ranch Regional Park adorned with pink ribbons and thousands of signatures of breast cancer survivors.

"It changes your life," Las Vegas firefighter Tawni Petropoulos said, holding back tears.

Her mom was diagnosed with Stage Four breast cancer one-and-a-half years ago. It spread to her liver and bones, then all over her body. Her mom's cancer is now in remission, and Petropoulos said family support has been critical to her success.

"We went through all of the stages -- first denial, and then anger, and one day she just woke up and said 'I’m going to fight,'" Petropoulos said.

The pink truck's North Las Vegas visit was its only stop in Nevada. The idea for the truck came out of Arizona firefighter Dave Graybill’s living room, but the inspiration behind it was from a fellow firefighter, Wally Monsivaiz.

"His fire department decided to wear pink shirts in honor of the (breast cancer victim) in Las Cruces, New Mexico., and to raise money for a cancer organization, and he asked me what I thought," Graybill said. "I said it’s not only a good idea, it’s the right thing for us men to do in support of our women and their fight against cancer."

Though Graybill doesn't have family members with breast cancer, he said he enjoys bringing strangers together and having them find comfort in each other.

"I don’t need anything selfish to happen to me to want to make a difference for other people," he said. "I think that is the legacy I’m going to leave my children."

Graybill took a two-month vacation to go on the Pink Ribbon Tour. The tour started 10 months ago and has about 15,000 signatures on the truck that honor women who are breast cancer survivors, as well as loved ones who have died.

“If you’re a man, you wear pink. If you are a boy, child, junior high student, you wear pink," Graybill said. "If you are in high school and want to learn leadership, wear pink so it will let every woman out there know that you love them. That is our goal."

With each stop, money is left to organizations that help women in the fight against cancer.

“I want to show my kids that it shouldn’t take a tragedy to stand up and help someone,” Monsivaiz said. "We didn’t do this alone. There were several people behind the scenes that you don’t see."

Other community organizations were in attendance to provide health tips and information. The Nevada Cancer Institute offered free mammograms.

“I think this is amazing," Nevada Cancer Institute health educator Jenny Quade said. "It is amazing to see the support coming out for women.”

The Nevada Cancer Institute is offering a flat fee of $50 for mammograms during the month of October, which is breast cancer awareness month. The rate is normally $75.

For more information, visit www.pinkribbontour.com.