MFD’s Schulz travels 2,400 miles to raise cancer awareness

He describes it as a “life-altering experience.” The look in his eye as Carlos Schulz talks about the journey he took last month as a “guardian of the ribbon” on the Pink Heals Tour makes you believe it.

Schulz is an engineer with the Maricopa Fire Department, but for 12 days in August he was also a member of the Pink Heals Tour. The tour advocates for cancer awareness, spreading the word of hope, love and support for woman all over the country who are battling cancer.

The Pink Heals Tour brings firefighters from across the nation together to embark on an epic 74-day national tour. They drive pink fire trucks, wear pink turnouts (the firefighter protective gear), rally support for local charities and bring comfort to the hearts of cancer survivors. Schulz participated in the first leg of the tour that started in Phoenix and traveled 2,400 miles to Chicago.

The pink fire trucks are signed by people whose lives have been touched by cancer, either directly as survivors or indirectly as family members or friends of a woman stricken by the horrible disease. This year’s tour started with three trucks, one of which was new to the tour, and left Phoenix without a signature on it. Schulz says that within two hours, at a rest stop outside the Valley called Sunset Point, the truck received its first signatures. Everywhere they went people would stop, sign the trucks and read the names. There were an estimated 3,000 signatures by the time the truck arrived in Chicago.

“It was amazing,” said Schulz. ”No matter where we were, from big cities to the smallest, one stoplight town, people came out and stopped us, and supporters signed the truck and talked about someone they know who’s had cancer.”

“Cancer affects everyone; the women in our country deserve the support from their communities. We are just the messengers; they are the message” Schulz said.

The Pink Heals Tour came to Maricopa last year, and that was when Schulz became reacquainted with an old friend, Dave Graybill, a firefighter for the city of Glendale Fire Department and founder of the Pink Heals Tour. It was then that he made the commitment to pursue his passion for raising awareness for cancer. Schulz started the pink shirt program for the Maricopa Fire Department, which allows the firefighters to wear pink duty shirts in the month of October.

His next step is to raise awareness through his efforts for a city proclamation, adopting a national “Care Enough to Wear Pink” campaign, which designates three days in October when city staff wears pink for the women of the community.

Schulz is presenting the proclamation before the Maricopa City Council at the Oct. 5 meeting.

Submitted photo