MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, S.C. -- The Southeast Georgia Chapter of Pink Heals visited the Air Station May 6 in support of the Pink Heals Tour 2010.
The chapter is a part of a nationwide movement to raise cancer awareness through firefighters visiting cities wearing pink turnout gear and driving a pink fire truck.
Volunteers Lt. Steven Cox and Shane Shifflett, firefighters with the Fort Stewart, Ga. Fire and Emergency Services, and Ed Faris, a firefighter with Southside Fire/Emergency Medical Services Fire Department, Savannah, Ga. visited the Air Station Structural Fire and Emergency Services Department before being escorted to the Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 flightline for a photo shoot with the Air Station firefighters.
"Any help we can give to finding a cure for cancer, we are on board," said Chief Hector Cajigas, the fire chief with the Air Station Fire Department.
The tours stop at the Air Station marked the first visit in South Carolina for the Pink Heals Tour 2010.
"Whenever we go to a city, we ask cancer survivors or people that know someone who passed away from cancer to sign the truck, so we can carry the signatures throughout the tour," said Shifflett, a second-year volunteer with the tour.
One man that jumped at the opportunity to leave his mark on the pink truck was Joseph Otterbine, the fire inspector with Air Station Fire Department. Otterbine signed for his father who passed away from cancer 12 years ago.
According to Otterbine, his father is deeply missed and his mother will be elated to know that his name will forever be attached to the truck.
"To put my father's name on the truck in his honor really spoke to my heart," Otterbine expressed.
Experiencing touching moments like this is exactly what motivates Cox, a first-year volunteer.
"What inspired me to get involved with the tour was losing my mom to cancer. Seeing the happiness of survivors and family members who signed the truck helps me on a personal level to deal with the loss of my mom," Cox recalled.
The Fightertown visit was brief, lasting only hours, but it was anything short of impactful.
"The pink truck is a symbol that those who battled with cancer may be lost but are not forgotten," Otterbine said.