Think Pink in Pink October

A pink fire truck is pretty hard to ignore among the vendors, tents and crowd on Main Street Sunday afternoon’s last Palisade Farmers’ Market.

But there it was, an impressive fire truck, fully operational, water-pumping vehicle that had been repainted soft, soothing pink instead of red. In addition to the color and distinctive cancer ribbon designs, this truck had chrome script writings of the word “Delaney” placed statically on the front, back and sides.

The “Delaney fire truck” is on tour across the county. This is its 2^nd display in Palisade; the first showing was at the Wine Festival, and the pink firefighter will be in the Homecoming parade on Friday.

Designed and donated to be a symbol of courage and support to the cancer families in Mesa County, it was named after Delaney Clements, a local young girl who is a survivor of cancer and her family’s foundation “Delaney Donates.”

Palisade’s Fire Chief Richard Rupp and Water Board member Elaine Korver welcomed all Farmers’ Market visitors who came up to admire the big pink truck on Sunday, and both explained the purpose of the firefighters’ project.

“If you are a cancer survivor or have lost someone to cancer, you can write a message on the truck.” Elaine asked and then had to explain the Delaney fire truck project again and again.

“Some people knew about it, and they came to sign the truck that day,” she said.

One family talked about their special connection with Delaney Truck. Their daughter had been in the Children’s Hospital in Denver at the same time as Delaney.
“We are friends with the family because of Gracie,” Rusty Lloyd said as he and his wife, oldest daughter Elly, son Carter and two Lloyd grandparents from Kansas watched the middle daughter write her message.

      Gracie is a survivor of liver cancer, yet she is a bundle of 8½-year-old blonde energy who could not stand still. She was constantly dancing from foot to foot while waiting to know how and where to write her message.
       Consulting with everyone in her family what she should say, she then asked Elaine if she could draw a picture of herself next to it.

Gracie was happy with the results, but she impatiently twirled and talked before the family walked away from Delaney’s Fire Truck.

“She promised me that if we had the truck here next year, she would come back to sign it again,” Elaine said with a smile.

Another joyous survivor came to the Farmers’ Market, Lynette Pickering of Denver, came up all smiles to Chief Rupp and proclaimed, “I’m a breast cancer survivor. Can I sign the truck?”

“Of course, you can,” he responded before asking, “How long?”

 Lynette tossed her cute little cap to her husband Randy and revealed her short mass of re-growing hair.  With an even bigger smile, she replied proudly, “Five days free of chemo.”

Randy explained they came to the Valley to play golf for the weekend, if Lynette felt up to it.

She interrupted, “I’ve been golfing for three days and feeling fine.”

Now her husband was all smiles. “We didn’t think she could go that long.  She is tired, but still doing okay.”

Before they left, he took pictures of his wife posing with her short-cropped hair-do, standing next to her message of hope on the pink fire truck.

Not all the visits were happy, Elaine Korver said about volunteering at the Delaney Fire Truck all day, “It was hard. Cancer hits a lot of people. Some cancer survivors want to keep it private. Some people would read the messages or watch others writing, but they did not want to do that,” she said.

Gently she would encourage everyone to support and help people struggling with cancer by donating money or buying a shirt while at the pink fire truck or from any fire department in the valley.

      Elaine called Chief Rupp over to model the official Palisade Fire Department pink shirt that matched the truck, similar to what each of the county fire departments will be wearing in “Pink October.”

 “All firefighters will wear pink shirts with the same design on the front: ‘Courage and Support’ streaming on the cancer ribbon image over the words ‘Mesa County Firefighters,’ and the word ‘cancer’ will be falling into the nozzle of a fire hose.

“Each individual department logo will be on the back,” she said.

To raise money and awareness about helping cancer families, anyone can purchase a similar pink shirt with the logo on the front, but instead of one department logo on the back, that shirt lists all 11: Palisade, Grand Junction, Central Orchard Mesa, Clifton, Gateway, Platte Valley, East Orchard Mesa, Glade Park, Land’s End (Whitewater), Lower Valley (Fruita), and DeBeque.

This is the second year for GJ firefighters to honor and raise funds for cancer survivors and families.

Last year the Grand Junction Fire Department committed to help Delaney in her fight. Because her grandfather had been a firefighter, all the GJ firefighters wore pink tee shirts in October to show their support to all cancer patients.  That alone raised $9,000 in Pink October.

This year the Valley Fire Chiefs agreed to unite and expand their cancer awareness project, adding the Delaney Fire Truck.    Symbolic in color and size, this unique fire truck was donated by the Central Orchard Mesa Fire Department to the Grand Junction Fire Department.

Local organizations donated time and money to have it painted and customized in honor of Delaney Clements’ foundation “Delaney Donates,” and to be a symbol of hope, courage and strength to all cancer families. Now through October it will be on a fundraising tour to each of the county fire stations.

The pink “Delaney” fire truck will be in Friday’s Homecoming Parade, and then it travels to the Fruita Fall Festival.

This is not a typical appearance of a fire truck, but it leaves a powerful impression wherever it tours. Hopefully, its message will make everyone Think Pink against Cancer and raise awareness and funds for cancer research, survivors, family and friends.