HIGH POINT, NC – It’s not October. It’s not Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But, recently a woman looked at me and said, “I’m a survivor every day.”
It’s true. Once you’re diagnosed with breast cancer, your life is forever changed. It’s not like a survivor of cancer goes into remission and suddenly forgets what it was like to battle the potentially deadly disease.
So, it makes perfect sense why the High Point Police Department decided to dedicate a patrol car to awareness all year long. Judy Brenner, a crime analyst, emailed the chief and asked if they could turn a car pink. She and her two long time co-workers Linda Hodgson and Sylvia McNeill are the department’s three breast cancer survivors.
Chief Kenneth Schultz was ready to jump on board, after seeing a similar car in South Carolina.
“We ended up pulling a car that has higher mileage on it, that was about to be pulled from the street and we wrapped it and now we use it and deploy it to different events and keep it outside so that people can see that,” said Schultz.
The car is meant to serve two purposes. One to support family members and employees at the department who survived breast cancer.
“We don’t know specifically the suffering they go through but we can see the effects of it and from what I can tell, it means a lot to have support,” said Schultz
The second purpose- to serve as a community conversation piece.
Schultz said, “Just to have that conversation, not about law, not stopping them for something they did wrong but just to interact with them as people.”
Move forward is what McNeill does every day since her cancer diagnosis in 2014. The records department employee said her law enforcement co-workers gave her tremendous support.
“It stops your world in a way,” said McNeill. “I had a double mastectomy, reconstruction all that stuff. Had five surgeries.”
The car’s design is low-key; a long bright pink ribbon wraps the length of the car with matching pink letters and the famous breast cancer symbol. But, it's impact is prominent. McNeill, cancer free for two years, burst with emotion when she saw it in person in early October of 2016.
High Point Police Dedicates Pink Patrol Car To Workers
“I’m really proud of it. It's so neat."
The car stays parked in front of the department, except for when it’s rolled out to events in the area. McNeill joked that she would love to take it for a spin one day, but for now, she content walking past it every day, with a smile on her face.
“I’m a survivor every day," she said. "For the rest of my life.”