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Local cancer fighting organization decorates running statues with more than 60 bras

Charlie Brewer, co-founder of Beyond Pink, with helpers, dressed the Bloomsday runners statues in bras to honor women who have succumbed to or are fighting breast cancer Tuesday. Beyond Pink’s mission is to bring awareness to lifesaving breast thermal imaging and it ability to detect breast disease early. (COLIN MULVANY/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
Charlie Brewer, co-founder of Beyond Pink, with helpers, dressed the Bloomsday runners statues in bras to honor women who have succumbed to or are fighting breast cancer Tuesday. Beyond Pink’s mission is to bring awareness to lifesaving breast thermal imaging and it ability to detect breast disease early. (COLIN MULVANY/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)Buy a print of this photo
By Quinn Welsch quinnw@spokesman.com(509) 459-5469

Dozens of bras were placed over the chests of the running statues along Spokane Falls Boulevard on Tuesday afternoon to help raise awareness for Beyond Pink, a local organization aimed at providing thermal imaging for people at risk of breast cancer.

“These are in honor of fighters, warriors and the ones we’ve lost,” said Charlie Brewer, who founded Beyond Pink with co-founder Karla Porter 13 years ago.

The 60-70 bras decorating the running statues were donated by businesses and people who have a personal connection with fighting breast disease, either themselves or through someone they know and love, Brewer said.

A tag attached to the wrist of one statue reads: “In honor of my aunt and cousin who lost their battles.”

Everybody knows someone who has fought breast cancer, Brewer said.

Beyond Pink raises and distributes funds for thermal imaging that is not covered by insurance, which allows people to see breast cancer at the earliest stages, Brewer said. All of their funds stay in the Spokane area.

“This demonstration is to let people know that we have funds and they’re available to give to them,” she said. “We know that somebody we talk to today will save a life. It’s absolutely a fact. You talk to enough people, you save a life.”

According to Beyond Pink, thermography allows people to see breast cancer 10 years before a mass is large enough to be seen by any other screening tool. The organization recommends using the technology for all women starting at age 20.

About 287,850 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022, according to the American Cancer Society’s estimate. Of those, about 43,250 women will die, the organization said.

Beyond Pink says that about half of the women who die from the disease are younger than 50. However, insurance does not usually include mammograms for women under 50, Beyond Pink says.

Beyond Pink will hold its annual fashion show and auction on Oct. 15.