Joan Lucas, Denver Woman, Has House Painted Hot Pink For Breast-Cancer Awareness

In honor of breast cancer awareness month in October and the the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this Sunday, a Denver woman has been named “volunteer of the year” by Yoplait Yogurt -- her award? House painted bright pink by Yoplait.

Fox31 reports that Joan Lucas started volunteering for Susan G. Komen 19 years ago after a friend was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Lucas says of the time, “Twenty years ago nobody talked about breast cancer, there was no place to go.” So Lucas got involved.

Lucas is a long time supporter of breast-cancer awareness, according to The Denver Post, she is one of the women responsible for bringing the Race for the Cure to Denver 19 years ago. And she’s made a tremendous difference -- that first year of the race, about 3,200 people participated and $27,000 was raised for local causes.

This year, the Komen Race for the Cure is expected to draw around 50,000 people and raise more than $1 million dollars, according to the Komen Race for the Cure website.

To date, the Race for the Cure in Denver has raised $28 million for breast-cancer research in the Denver community.

Lucas's nearly two decades of dedication for breast-cancer awareness got Yoplait’s attention, so they started painting her house on Newton St. pink beginning at 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning, 9News reports. Yoplait’s goal is to remind everyone that breast cancer starts in our neighborhoods. The yogurt company has also donated more than $100,000 to the Denver chapter of Susan G. Komen’s Foundation.

Lucas’s house will be hot pink all through October and then go back to a more neighbor-friendly tan in September.

Yoplait is also running its “Save Lids to Save Lives” (SLSL) campaign in support of breast-cancer awareness month. Yoplait is putting pink lids on many of their products and will donate $.10 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure for each pink lid redeemed by Dec. 31, 2011 with hopes of raising $2 million for the cause. For more information about the Yoplait SLSL campaign, go to their website.

Visit the Komen Race for the Cure in Denver website for more information about signing up for the race.

Comments

[ShiftsQuickly]

10:32 PM on 09/30/2011

Like any red-blooded guy, I totally agree that boob-cancer is the enemy... but this house is just hideous.

[stanlord]

07:50 PM on 09/30/2011

You would think pink would be more for cervical cancer.

[nmmagyar]

09:56 AM on 09/30/2011

Does anyone know what percentage of the "pink for breast cancer awareness" products actually donate to breast cancer research? I have noticed that some of them say that they are associated with the Komen Foundation but many others are not. I would hate to think that people are buying that atrocious pink stuff, often at inflated prices, thinking that it is for the cause when it is just a marketing ploy on the part of some manufacturers.

[Genevieve Guzman]

03:45 AM on 09/30/2011

I feel like this "awareness" it's a billion dollar industry that is preying on sick people.

One word: cannabidiol.

[SteveDenver]

08:29 AM on 10/01/2011

You might not "feel" this way if you knew someone battling breast cancer or were battling breast cancer yourself.

[Genevieve Guzman]

11:17 PM on 10/01/2011

I've known a few people battling cancer. Not breast cancer, but various other cancers. It's the reason I feel the way I do. They got rid of cancer using what the government refuses to research further although there is research from other countries and from the 70s in the US proving it. In fact, it was even released by the NCI on their website, then changed within days because it "received too much attention". If people just take what information they are given and never look into it themselves, our country will stay on this path of greed because they know they can get away with it. I'm tired of seeing sick people taken advantage of. I feel horrible that there are children sick from cancer and they are not even given the option of the cure.

[kmmhike]

07:09 PM on 09/29/2011

Great, the house looks like it belongs in the Barbie doll aisle in Wal-Mart. I don't know who decided that the nasty Pepto-Bismol shade of pink had to be associated with the very important cause of breast cancer prevention, but I am really tired of it. Come on, Race for the Cure and Yoplait, get a new color scheme and give our eyes a rest.

[nancynancy]

06:50 PM on 09/29/2011

This self-serving and inane publicity stunt on behalf of the breast cancer industry and a processed foods company is so wrong on so many levels, I scarcely know where to begin.

The problem in this country isn't "lack of awareness" about breast cancer it's overdiagnosis and overtreatment of this disease. Mammograms and early diagonosis have been pushed by Komen and the breast cancer industry -- not because they save lives but because they generate profit.

Here's one fact you won't hear from the pink ribbon ladies. You would have to screen 1,000 women every year for ten years in order to "save" one woman's life. Of every three women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, one will die regardless of how "early" the cancer is detected, and one would have never had her health affected by disease even if she hadn't been treated.

[Cubanmom]

05:06 PM on 09/29/2011

That's wonderful that Joan Lucas painted her house pink. BUT........ the #1..... NUMBER ONE........ killer......... of American women (and men, btw) IS ....... heart disease.

Sadly, heart disease does not get the same press, nor are products painted red, nor do we go on and on about heart disease. Look we are ALL aware of breast cancer. We need to talk more, and often about heart disease, America's #1 killer!

[PaddyCakes]

12:55 PM on 09/29/2011

I've seen some doltish stuff, but this takes the Oscar.

[letitsnow]

12:55 PM on 09/29/2011

Clearly she doesn't live in a neighborhood with a HOA, I wonder if her neighbors now wish they did.

[columbusbuck]

12:47 PM on 09/29/2011

That's sweet and caring and all, but I can't imagine the migraines that house is going to bring on.

[only1nik]

12:39 PM on 09/29/2011

i think people are now re thinking pinking as the color of breast cancer awareness. yuck

[only1nik]

12:40 PM on 09/29/2011

sorry i can't type. rethinking pink....there we go.

[VA Jill]

12:06 PM on 09/29/2011

Wonder how long it will be before a nosy neighbor, or worse yet, a "neighborhood association" calls the city about it because they don't like the color......