NEWPORT, Ky. — October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the city of Newport is pink.

What You Need To Know

  •  October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

  •  Newport city hall is lit up pink in commemoration of the campaign

  •  It came at the suggestion of Donna Salyers, a former northern Kentucky resident

  • While Salyers hasn’t experienced cancer herself, it’s touched the people she loves most

The pink lighting comes at the request of Donna Salyers, a former Covington resident and owner of Fabulous Furs. While she now lives in Florida, Salyers still has many ties to the northern Kentucky region.

The lighting is in commemoration of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities in 1985 to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure.

“I have not experienced breast cancer, but about every female I run into has, or her sister has, or her mother has, or her best friend,” Salyers said.

While Salyers hasn’t experienced cancer herself, it’s touched the people she loves most. Her son, Scott, was diagnosed approximately 10 years ago.

“We thought his wonderful children will never know their wonderful dad. But he recovered extremely well. My husband, nine months ago. And he’s had a great recovery as well, so I have much to be grateful for,” Salyers said.

For the last few years, Salyers has chaired Making Strides Against Breast Cancer for the greater Cincinnati region. In that time, the initiative has raised nearly a million dollars.

“I feel that anything I can do, I will jump on it,” she said. “Take something negative and turn it into a positive.”

And it’s not just Newport. Salyers has been involved in “painting the town pink” in several of northern Kentucky’s river cities and in Cincinnati.

“It will help hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands, of people. You know, get checked, oh I didn’t do that. That’s a great reminder. I will,” she said.

Even if just one family can avoid the fear Salyer’s family faced, she said it will have been more than worth the effort.

The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2023:

  • About 297.790 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women;
  • About 43,700 women will die from breast cancer.
  • That the average risk of a woman in the U.S. developing breast cancer in her life is approximately 13%.
  • There are more than 4 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than women of any other racial or ethnic group. Approximately 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. Men can also get breast cancer.

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