Cancer Survivor Drives Truck Spreading Hope
(WCCO) -- For the better part of 30 years Tammy Butler's been at ease in the cab of a dump truck. Hauling 20 ton loads of blacktop and staying safe.
But her real scare came in the summer of 2007, when Butler learned she had breast cancer.
"I went through four rounds of chemo and six weeks of radiation," she said.
Luckily, it was a fight she didn't face alone.
"In 2008, I lost my sister to cancer," said Butler's co-worker, Terry Curtis.
Butler's co-workers at Anderson Brothers Construction wanted to show support in a very visible way, by painting her cab to promote cancer awareness.
"And I thought what better way than to take a truck and essentially make it a moving billboard for the American Cancer Society," Curtis said.
So when Tammy returned to work this year, she'd climb into a colorful tribute of hope, with emblems and words of inspiration to others facing the same fight.
"I thought, 'Wow, it's bright. People are going to notice it,'" Butler said.
The idea is to get anyone who sees Butler drive up more aware of just how many lives cancer affects and more supportive of those in the fight.
Not just breast cancer, but all cancers. As Butler knows too well, from the darkness of that first diagnosis, will come signs of support that mean so much.
"A lot of people in the company have family that has gone through it," she said. "It's good of Anderson to do this."
