Every October since 2008 the lights on Griffith’s bridge across the Smith Street Motorway have turned a lovely shade of pink in support of the fight against breast cancer.
Griffith Business School academic and National Breast Cancer Foundation Qld Ambassador Dr Robyn Cameron takes the opportunity seriously, driving the annual initiative with the same enthusiasm she brought to the cause 11 years ago.
“When I drive under the lights in October and look up, it is a small gesture that has such significance,” she said.
“Shining light- emanating rays of strength by all those diagnosed with breast cancer and remembering all those that have passed from the disease.I know of too many women now for whose bodies succumbed to the disease but their spirit lives on in each of those rays of pink.
The colour is achieved with pink gels that have been placed over the lights that shine onto the structure after dark.
“To me, the pink lights also reflect the significance that research has made, with the five-year survival rate increasing from 76 per cent to 91 percent.There have been significant inroads, but we cannot be complacent.
“What bothers me, is what seems to be an increasing incidence of younger women being diagnosed. I was lucky in that I had my two children when first diagnosed and so did not have to contend with the potential impact on my fertility that treatment can have. For many of these younger women there is this added anguish that they must deal with.
“Then there is the why- why is it that in some women the disease spreads and not in others. It is research that will provide the key to unlock that mystery.”
In the last 10 years, rates of breast cancer diagnoses have increased by 38 per cent.
Queensland icons that have similarly turned pink this October include the Story Bridge, Victoria Bridge, Kurilpa bridge, Sir Leo Hielscher Bridge, The Gabba, Suncorp Stadium, Pacific Fair Shopping Centre and the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.