Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue receptionist Chris Loulli was in the pink – after spending this Friday, 31 October raising awareness of the Breast Cancer Campaign.
Chris joined in the charity’s annual Wear it Pink campaign by donning a t-shirt, pink wig, socks and slippers and collecting £2 donations from members of the Service and visitors to Fire and Rescue Headquarters in South Park, Lincoln, during the day.
Chris, aged 37, has supported the campaign every year since her mum, Hazel, died of ovarian cancer in 2003.
Her efforts this year were especially important to her as they followed the sad death of her father John, from skin cancer, in September.
Chris said: “I have lost a lot of my family to cancer so I wanted to help with fundraising and help find a cure for it.
“Cancer affects a lot of people and a lot of families across the country.”
She added: “My father had coped really well after my mum died even though they had been together for 40 years.
“Two years ago he was diagnosed with skin cancer and had a mole removed from the back of his neck. He didn’t tell me or my sister that there were still cancerous cells though as he did not want to worry us.
“The cancer came back in his leg and he died two months after it was diagnosed a second time. It was such a shock as my dad was so fit and always cycling everywhere, so it just goes to show that it can happen to anyone.”
Chris is well known for her fundraising in the Service and takes part in the Race for Life event each year for Cancer Research UK as well as raising money for The Fire Fighters Charity, Jeans for Genes, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute and various childrens’ charities.
But Chris’s main focus is cancer research and her commitment to the cause is literally more than skin deep – as the pink ribbon tattoo she had etched on to her lower back in 2003 shows.
For more details about the Breast Cancer Campaign visit www.wearitpink.co.uk or ring 0800 107 3104.
