The Corners of Brookfield took on a celebratory mood Thursday night as an outsized pink dump truck pulled into the parking lot.
With the big truck as a backdrop, dozens of pink-clad women gathered, embraced and showed themselves to be a remarkable sisterhood.
It wasn’t long before 20 of the women hitched themselves to the big truck and began pulling. It was the American Cancer Society’s first Pink Powerhouse Pull, an effort to raise money for breast cancer research and to ensure that no breast cancer patient faces the disease alone.
“This event started right here in Wisconsin," said Laurie Bertrand, the Executive Director of the American Cancer Society. “In Appleton, Wisconsin we kind of banded some people together and pulled a pink fire truck in 2016. Since then, it kind of caught wildfire. Everybody around the nation really is kind of getting involved in pulling some great big, pink items."
There were two heats of 20 women pulling the big rig. Both times, the massive truck failed in its role of immovable object when confronted by the irresistible force of the cancer survivors and their supporters.
Among the women who performed the feat of strength was Maria Nieves. She survived breast cancer a decade ago and then suffered a relapse.
“Oh man, it’s not easy,” she said. “It was a tough, tough ride, but somehow, some kind of way, you have to find that inner strength, that mental strength to stay positive and remain positive. There were days when I broke down and I cried.”
Those tears came again tonight during a warm embrace following the pull. The tears weren’t born of pain or despair, but rather the strength of an indestructible sisterhood.
