10-4 Magazine October 2022

Trucker Talk: By John & Kim Jaikes October became Breast Cancer Awareness Month in 1985 after The American Cancer Society partnered with the pharmaceutical division of Imperial Chemical Industries. First Lady Betty Ford helped kick off the then week-long event. She herself was a breast cancer survivor, who was diagnosed while her husband Gerald Ford was President, which brought a lot of attention to the disease. Estee Lauder cosmetics held the first nationwide campaign in 1992 using the pink ribbon. They handed out 1.5 million ribbons and ushered in the pink ribbon as the premier visual reminder of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The initial goal was to give women (and men) the facts about breast cancer and early detection methods so they could stay on top of their health. Early detection saves lives. The movement has grown to include medical organizations, government agencies, and nonprofits, working with survivors and supporters on fundraising efforts for research and education. These events raise millions of dollars each year for the cause. Throughout the month (and year) there are walks, runs, truck shows, and many other events that raise money for research. There are also a few trucks out there that promote the cause all year long. I think there are very few people who haven’t been touched by this awful disease, be it a mom, sister, daughter, aunt, other family member or friend. But for this month, my story is about Ryan Gonnella and the tribute truck and trailer he built for his mom, Edith. First off, we want to give thanks to Kyle Schutte at Transportation Services Inc. in Sacramento, CA for the lead to this story. Kyle contacted us about the tribute truck they were doing for Ryan and the importance of the story behind it. They had worked on other trucks for Ryan, but they knew how special this one was going to be. TSI is a family-owned business specializing in collision repair, refurbishing beverage trailers, small body repairs on trucks, full restorations, and doing some awesome custom work, as well. A friend of a friend referred Ryan to TSI years ago, and they have been working together ever since. At 18, when Ryan was looking up to older friends in trucking, he went to work for one of them. Running hard, he learned a lot in those early days. Edith (Edee) raised him as a single mom and was always supportive and encouraging to Ryan. The work ethic she instilled in him paid off, and five years later, in 2015, he got the opportunity to buy his own truck and start his own business, Gonnella Trucking Inc. Since then, the business has grown to 17 trucks, with about half of them being super tag dump trucks, and the other half bobtail 5th wheel trucks pulling end dumps, walking floors, semi bottoms, and tipper trailers. He always told his mom that one day he would build a truck for her. In 2008, Edee was first diagnosed with breast cancer. There was surgery to remove the tumor in her left breast, but no radiation or chemotherapy. After being cancer free for ten years, it returned in 2018. This time they removed her left breast, along with the lymph nodes, and she got radiation and aggressive chemo treatments. A year later, they got the good news – cancer free again! Two years later, in July 2020, a third bout of cancer was found in her breast muscle, where the breast had been removed in 2018. There was surgery to remove as much muscle as possible, and then more radiation and chemo. Three months later she was told the cancer in the muscle was gone. In October 2020 she went for a mammogram and doctors told her she was once again cancer free. Unfortunately, just two short weeks later, she found a lump the size of a golf ball on her right breast, and this time the doctors told her it was stage IV cancer and that it had spread to other parts of her body. This was her fourth diagnosis, but she was still fighting! She had surgery to remove her right breast, and then started radiation and aggressive chemo treatments. They told her she had three months to two years to live. In January 2021, Edee’s pectoral muscle became infected and created an open wound. Home care nurses came in three times a week to clean and bandage 76 10-4 Magazine / October 2022 A TRIBUTE TO MOM