Groups hold Mustang parade for breast cancer awareness
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important for women to get mammograms.
Washington Health System teamed up with Neighborhood Ford Store, Washington Ford and the Greater Pittsburgh Mustang Club last week to hold a Ford Mustang parade supporting breast cancer awareness and screenings.
Sonja Willard, a Mammography Technologist at WHS Women’s Center and a breast cancer survivor who participated in the parade, said it’s important to schedule mammograms during COVID-19.
“Early detection is key,” said Willard, who had visited a doctor for a routine check-up three months before she found a lump in her breast. “Unfortunately, cancer is not going to wait for the pandemic to go away.”
She said WHS and the Women’s Center have implemented rigorous infection prevention protocols and safety measures, and assures patients it is safe to seek care.
Willard has underwent chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, and has been cancer-free for six years.
“I know it’s scary right now, but it’s so important to get a mammogram,” she said.
The parade started at Washington Health System’s Women’s Center on Route 19 in Washington and ended at Washington Ford.
South Strabane police escorted the Mustangs – nine of them, decorated with over-sized pink balloons – along the parade route.
The lead Mustang in the parade featured the Warrior in Pink logo.
Twenty-six years ago, Ford launched Ford Warriors in Pink, which has raised more than $138 million for the fight against breast cancer.
Kathy Wagler, chairperson of the 80 dealers who make up Neighborhood Ford Store and head of Quilt for the Cure, is also a breast cancer survivor.
“As a Ford dealer myself and as a breast-cancer survivor, Ford’s Warriors in Pink program and Quilt For The Cure are very special programs to me personally,” said Wagler. “I am so grateful for the participation of Washington Ford, the Greater Pittsburgh Mustang Club and all the assistance from Washington Health System’s Women’s Center. If you ever had to deal with breast cancer in your family, you’ll realize that it takes a lot of people coming together to provide treatment, care, comfort, hope and love.”
Quilt for the Cure also donated a Warrior Quilt it raffled off at the Ford exhibit at February’s 2020 Pittsburgh International Auto Show.
The quilt is made from 5-inch swatches of pink cloth that are decorated and personalized by people who want to stand up against breast cancer. The Warrior Quilts, sewn together by volunteers, symbolize the unified fight to defeat it.