A huge pink fire truck pulled up in front of the woman’s house where her kids, grandkids and friends gathered. As she began to realize the truck and the commotion were a show of support for her fight against breast cancer, there were tears and hugs all around.
“Meeting breast-cancer survivors and interacting with people in need of our service is always meaningful,” says Shannon Moneymaker. “This woman,” Shannon recalls, “said our visit was the most amazing thing that ever happened in her life.”
If life is a journey, it might as well be on a huge pink fire truck like the one owned by For 3 Sisters, an organization run by Shannon and her husband Marshall. In addition to bringing hope to others, the truck is the perfect metaphor for their life journey.
A career firefighter with the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services, Marshall unbelievably lost three sisters to breast cancer. Vicky died in 2008, while Penny and Valessa died in 2010, just months apart. In the midst of all this loss, a group organizing a breast-cancer walk set up a pit-stop in the parking lot at Marshall’s fire house. The positive, supportive vibe of the group offered hope to Marshall who began getting out in the community reminding women to get mammograms.
In 2011, in recognition of Marshall’s efforts to raise awareness about breast cancer and the importance of early detection, Marshall’s shift co-workers and the Bethesda Fire Department's fire chief surprised Marshall with a gift of pink turnout gear and a pink helmet.
Marshall’s alter ego was born. From then on, he became known as the Pink Fireman, and became even more committed to raising awareness of breast cancer and the importance of early detection, and supporting survivors and those still in the fight. In that same year – 2011 - Marshall and Shannon formed For 3 Sisters, a national grassroots organization committed to ensuring that no one fights breast cancer alone. The organization was the embodiment of their passion and helped them continue the fight even after Marshall retired with a back injury in 2013.
Fast forward to 2019 when the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue service was preparing to auction off the fire truck known as Engine 61/706; the very truck with which Marshall spent 11 of his fire-fighting years. Marshall and E61/706 had served the community together on the front lines and Shannon and Marshall saw the engine as a chance for them to come together again in retirement. In April 2020, they acquired the engine but then Covid threw them another curveball and it took until June 5, 2021 before Shannon and Marshall could present E61/706 to the public in her new pink incarnation.
That was the eve of National Cancer Survivors Day and the day that E61/706 officially became known as Vicky: an iconic symbol of hope, strength, support, and outreach for breast cancer and healthy communities nationwide, and named, of course, for Marshall’s first sister to lose her breast-cancer battle.
The next day, on National Cancer Survivors Day, Vicky made her first official appearance at the Anne Arundel Medical Center's Survivors Day Celebration. In July, she appeared in front of nearly 20,000 people over the July 4th weekend proclaiming her message of hope to people in Annapolis, Catonsville, and Havre de Grace.
“It’s the community’s fire engine,” says Shannon. “So, if we’re asked to visit a patient, we do our best to be there.”
Today, with Vicky, For 3 Sisters helps raise breast cancer awareness via events, appearances, and parades; delivers health information to under-resourced and under-insured communities; and inspires and promotes hope and strength to breast cancer fighters, survivors, and thrivers. The group also hopes to be able to provide celebratory rides home for patients who have completed their cancer treatment or a phase of treatment.
Although Vicky may be the most visible aspect of For 3 Sisters, the group offers a lot more. In a program called Road to Resources, patients and survivors receive financial support and case- management support in applying for a variety of services. Through the Power of ONE program, For 3 Sisters provides community education about breast cancer, early detection, and more. For 3 Sisters also offers a men’s caregiver support group, and gets involved with charity fashion shows, bingo and more. And there’s Hope, a golden retriever ambassador and therapy dog in-training who offers support at many For 3 Sisters events.
In addition to Vicky, For 3 Sisters has a pink pick-up truck named Penny, for the second sister Marshall lost. “Braddock Heights VFD is donating an ambulance to be our event-support vehicle,” says Shannon who expects to introduce this vehicle in spring or summer 2022. This ambulance will of course be named Valessa, making the fleet finally and truly for three sisters.
