California Police Chief- Fall 2013 | Page 18

Raising Awareness and Community Support through the #PinkPatchProject By: Sergeant Rudy Guatto, Irwindale PD In 2007, Dorothy Tarozzi, received some devastating news. The 69 year old widow was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, a form of breast cancer that can spread to the lymph nodes and other areas of the body. The diagnosis came following a routine mammogram that revealed suspicious lumps in her 18 California Police Chief | www.californiapolicechiefs.org breast. Further diagnosis and treatment followed, culminating in lumpectomy surgery. This was how breast cancer entered my life; by randomly and unceremoniously attacking my motherin-law, who is not only my wife’s mother, my children’s grandmother and their children’s great-grandmother, but who is also a woman who has lovingly and unquestioningly adopted me as her own son. Over the next several months, I witnessed my family come together as we suppor Yܛ