The Pink Cart Blog

Today, we return home to Grand Rapids, Michigan with our last, and most heart wrenching video blog with Chad Stoub, Owner of EverKept Disposal. Chad and his brother, Jason, run a successful local hauling company and every time I see their garbage trucks I giggle... 

Today we bring you a longer video blog about a very special woman and her family. Many of you know of the extremely talented Baldwin family, or shall I say all the Baldwin men, but did you know that all those brothers are supported and loved by their sister Elizabeth (Beth) Baldwin? We first met Beth five years ago when she started ordering Pink Carts for various fund raising activities in New York state. The family co-operatively support the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund in honor of their Mother, a breast cancer survivor.

We sure hope you are enjoying meeting some of our Pink Cart partners across the country, as we have certainly loved reconnecting with each and every one of them. This week we bring you David Boon and his family business Boon & Sons in Rochester, New York. 

This week we would like to introduce you to the wonderful Mayor of Gloucester Township in sunny New Jersey. Mayor David Mayer was elected into office in 2010 and one of his first initiatives was to help the township lower costs and become more environmentally sustainable. A great way to do that is to get valuable recyclables out of the solid waste stream and into a recycling cart, which can then be picked up and taken to a recycling center and turned into money for the township - and reduce trash at the same time!

Happy Monday, October 1st, and the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month! We are so excited to share what we have been up to these last few months, as we have been travelling and re-connecting with our Pink Cart partners across the country. Many of them in communities near you!

As I blogged about in August, The Pink Cart Team decided to celebrate our upcoming ten year anniversary by visiting folks that have taken our little Pink Cart idea and built on it in their own community, and the results are astounding.

Hard to believe it has been close to nine years since we launched The Pink Cart program! To-date we have sold more than 140,000 Pink Carts and raised more than $665,000, all donated to the American Cancer Society (ACS) for breast cancer programs. While these are AMAZING numbers, and honestly far surpassed our early hopes and dreams, the numbers are actually much larger if we include the impact our Kick Cancer To The Curb idea has had in communities that we serve with partners. 

Hello,

My name is Melva Johnson and I am an 11 year cancer survivor. My story begins like this...

The day that I was told that I had breast cancer scared me. I didn't know how I was going to tell my family and friends. On the way back home from seeing the doctor I was really concentrating on how I was going to tell my family, especially my children. I was only 36 years old.

In August 2010 I went in for my annual mammogram. I was not worried, as no one in my family had a history of breast cancer. I was right not to be concerned. My mammogram was clear. One day in early February 2011 while in the shower, I noticed that my breast began to cave inward. I knew this was not a good sign.

If you know Dana Nowland, you know she is a fighter. The past three months have been particularly rough, and life has thrown a couple of pretty hard punches at her and her family. The first being the unexpected loss of her father, Rich Nowland, on June 17th. It was that week she had scheduled an appointment to have a painful and suspicious change in her left breast checked out. Convinced it was a clogged duct; trying to cope with the loss of her father, and assist the family with arrangements for his memorial she nearly cancelled the appointment that afternoon.

My journey with breast cancer began in utero. My maternal grandmother had her breast cancer at age 67, my Mom had her cancer at age 52, and I had my cancer at 38. Being a Third Generation Survivor has given me a unique opportunity to pay it forward. I advocate for others going through their cancer journey. I volunteer in the community to provide education, awareness, and raise monies for The CURE. I know that together we will eradicate cancer in our lifetime! Grateful for those of us that have survived; pray for Warriors and Remember the souls we have lost to this insidious disease.

My name is Tina Marie Vucci and I'm 44 years old. I found a lump the size of a pea in my left breast and it grew for 2 years. It was then the size of a golf ball and I had 3 the same size in my lymph nodes. It was 3rd stage breast cancer at 33 years old.

I have had lumps removed since I was 27 years old. I have a family history on both sides of the family. I'm married with young children and felt that a benign fibroid was changing. I knew I wasn't due for a mammogram because it was less than my 2 year routine check. My PCP thought it was still benign but referred me back to Betty Ford for further investigation. I had a mamm and ultrasound and discovered that my fibroid was still benign, but they found calcification that looked suspect.

Hello my name is Michelle. I really think it’s a great idea for The Pink Carts to help with Breast Cancer Awareness and allow others to share their stories to help others! I feel very lucky to share my story and pray that it helps somebody.

Cancer is on both sides of my family. I have had my grandfather pass away from lung cancer, my aunt pass away from Breast Cancer, and another aunt from cervical cancer. Right now in my family there are several of us that have cancer. Unfortunately, my case is the worst. Right now I have stage 4 cancer in my stomach and breast. I may be sick, I may have stage 4 cancer, BUT that doesn't mean I'll just lay down and let this awful thing called Cancer ruin all my hopes and dreams! I refuse to let this beat ME...

Ashley and her husband, Scott, have been faced with many obstacles over the last three years, but nothing could have prepared them for the trials 2013 would bring.

It all started for Ashley when she was injured at work in 2011; she fell and broke her ankle which caused her and Scott to fall into financial distress because she was unable to work, and workers compensation wasn’t following through with their obligations. This injury has left Ashley with permanent loss of partial motion, and severe nerve pain that may never subside.

It’s remarkable to think that it has been four years since the idea for The Pink Cart™ was born. I’ve told the story a hundred times about how I honestly believed if we could sell just a few thousand carts we would be able to turn curbsides pink and start a conversation. Within days of shipping our first carts we were getting calls and emails from people wanting to know where they could get one, strangers stopping at people’s houses to take pictures and send them to friends and family.

When you're living with cancer your number one priority should be to focus your energy on getting well... not on keeping track of all the insurance paperwork, test results, and bills coming from your various doctor visits or hospital stays. That is why The Pink Cart takes pride in our partnership with an organization as outstanding as the American Cancer Society, because they offer so many valuable resources to cancer patients and their families.

I had just turned 49 years old when I felt a small lump up towards my right armpit. The sad thing is I ignored it. I had just had a mammogram 2 months earlier - nothing to worry about. This was September of 2009. By the beginning of November I FINALLY decided to make an appointment to have it checked out - still, no worries. I'm a teacher and I was in the middle of parent/teacher conferences. The day of my appointment I cancelled. I was just too busy. My OBGYN even emailed me "Are you sure you want to cancel?” My response was "Yes". I wasn't too concerned.

Breast cancer touched my life when I was 23; my sister was 28 when she was diagnosed.  When I heard the news, I cried and cried thinking her life was over. 

She had a lumpetomy then did chemo and radiation. I took care of her a lot during this process.  I had to shave her head when her hair started falling out, I took her to the doctor and to chemo treatments. But she BEAT it! She was cancer free!  She even made the 5 year Survivor mark. 

I don't know where to start, so I guess the beginning is good. My baby sister, Terri Lynn was diagnosed with breast cancer in April of 2009. 1 year later to the day, our mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. My sister has a wonderful support system, which includes her husband who has stood by her through all of her sickness. Her daughter, Emmy who is 16 and has been a real trooper through everything, as well as her other family. My sister is the strongest person I know! She has undergone a double mastectomy and various other health issues and still manages to hold her head high and fight.

Along this Pink Cart journey we've been on over the past nearly 3 years, there have been a handful of milestones we've celebrated with gusto and have held in our hearts as truly meaningful for the program, the cause, and for us personally as we remember those loved ones in our own lives who are fighting this disease. Today is another milestone for us all to celebrate - we have reached 50,000 supporters on The Pink Cart Facebook page!

It's hard to believe but Mother's Day is right around the corner! There are so many traditions for this holiday - brunch with family, looking through photo albums, handmade cards, and usually there's something we give to these incredible women to show our appreciation. We don't know about you but every year it seems like it's harder and harder to find a gift that is meaningful for the mothers in our lives.

This post was written by a good friend of The Pink Cart Team, Cathy. She wanted to share her experience of the benefits of running both socially and for her health. 

We are doing a little jig, ok a BIG jig, over here at the Pink Cart team headquarters because we just BLEW through a financial goal of raising $250,000 for the American Cancer Society!!! THAT is a lot of money and we know that every penny is going to the important work of research and breast cancer awareness across this great country. Did you know that when you buy a Pink Cart in your community your $5 makes it back there?

We are all about Cancer Prevention. But, sometimes, despite our best efforts, Cancer still rears its ugly head into our lives. So once you've got Cancer, it's time to make some decisions about your treatment, your recovery, and how you're going to keep up your exercise routine. Wait, WHAT? You're fighting cancer, who cares about exercise? Well, it turns out, it could save your life. Exercise  should be one of your top priorities in your cancer treatment plan.

A good friend of The Pink Cart wrote to us a couple of weeks ago wanting to share something with The Pink Cart community. She wanted it to be something valuable and something people could relate to. After talking for a while, and hearing the story of her first mammogram, we both thought that would be a great thing to share. For those who have gone through it, it could be a trip down memory lane or it could reveal how the process may have changed over the years.

You've probably seen the pictures on Facebook by now. A sea of women (and one proud guy) dressed to the nines in pink jackets and feather boas. The team, or as we call them, 'Warriors in Pink', danced and chanted for the crowds gathered for the Grand Rapids Santa Claus Parade last Saturday. The onlookers loved it, saying it was their *favorite* part of the parade, next to Mr. Claus himself. Our dancers fed off their support and their energy and gave it their all.

It's November now and all the hype around October and it being breast cancer awareness month has dissipated. The Pink cart team was super busy all month with contests and give aways and blogging and general traffic on the Facebook page and our website. Now it's quiet and it feels like everyone has packed up and gone home. The traffic on our Facebook page has dramatically dropped off and while that is just fine, it tells us something.

This weekend we celebrated my Father's 90th birthday. He is a good man who is still extremely active and independent -  at 90 he lives alone, works, plays golf, travels and dates women younger than me (which will have to be the subject of a later blog :)) There was a 13 year age difference between my Mom and Dad and so when Mom died so young from breast cancer it really rocked him to his very core. He never expected to get left. You know that feeling...being left behind. It's debilitating.

At age 41, with no significant family history, I was diagnosed with breast cancer on Cinco de Mayo 2009. After work that day (I am a nurse) I went to my doctor because of a lump that puckered my skin. I knew what it meant, I  just needed confirmation. Like all others affected by cancer, this day changed my life irrevocably. Though given the choice to change circumstances, I wouldn't.

I was looking forward to the start of a new year, 2011 promised to be filled with happiness and love.  However, this would soon be shattered by what I was about to find.