Firefighter of the Year Recognized for Building Cancer Awareness

Saving lives in an emergency is Brian Bruce's job. Even when he's off-duty, the city firefighter and paramedic works to heighten cancer awareness in Milpitas through the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. He said he has always considered it an extension of his work as a firefighter. 

It boils down to one thing.

"What more can we do for our community," he said. "Each and every day, if there's something that needs to be addressed, we put our name on it."

Bruce, who joined the relay planning committee last year, has been selected as Firefighter of the Year. He will be recognized at an awards banquet with Police Officer of the Year and Citizen of the Year .

Bruce began volunteering for the annual event and fundraiser after being hired in late 1998. Bill Weisberger, fire chief at the time, served on the planning committee (and later as event chairman for many years), which left a seat open for a relay team captain. Up until last year, Bruce volunteered as team captain, and in 2010 he was co-captain with Johnathan Bankston, a firefighter and paramedic. This year, Bankston continues to serve as captain.

"Quite steadily, from a simple standpoint of being general participants, we became more of a focal point for raising money for Relay for Life," he said.

The firefighters donate the proceeds from grilling and selling barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers to participants at the relay. And they order marinated tri tip and chicken from Nob Hill each year to provide a four-course meal, without charge, for cancer survivors.

Bruce has a personal connection to cancer. His mother beat ovarian cancer when he was a teenager, and members of his firefighter family died of cancer in their retirement years.

One memory he has of the survivors' dinner is sitting between Milpitas resident Judy Lowry and a girl, 8-or-9 years old, both battling cancer. 

"Promise me that next year that I will get to walk you both around the track," he told them. Each year, the relay kicks off with the survivors' lap on the track of the Milpitas Sports Center. Lowry went back the following year to walk around the track, but after a decade of fighting cancer, she died in fall 2009.

Fire Inspector Eric Emmanuel, who grew up in Milpitas, used to babysit Lowry's kids and accompanied her during the last year she did the survivors' lap in a golf cart, too weak to walk. He attended the event often on his own time, like other firefighters.

Lowry's friend, Lonnie Knight, said she survived during those years, because she was willing to try new drugs and new forms of chemotherapy.

"She knew some of those advances would have never happened without money for research," said Knight, a Milpitas resident. In the first nine or 10 relays, the cancer society raised a million dollars, she said. 

Research and prevention could be attributed to a decrease in firefighter cancer rates. In the past, a firefighter didn't wear a self-contained breathing apparatus, which later became mandatory in the '80s, according to Battalion Chief Robert Mihovich.

Airborne cancerous substances can be inhaled—and transmitted from clothes to the skin. That's why some of the past practices, such as placing protective gear (firefighter outerwear) next to beds, are no longer done these days, Mihovich said.

But cancer has taken the lives of many Milpitas firefighters—Fire Chief Mike Harwood, Battalion Chiefs Fred Friedman and Lester Brooks; Captains Jerry Furmin, Ed Epple and Mike Wells; Fire Marshall Tim Jones; Engineer Les Sealand; and Firefighters George Rohrbacher and James Keeley.

Bruce said they passed away in their early years of retirement.

When the time came to nominate a firefighter of the year for 2010, Bruce said he didn't nominate anyone, because he could not single out one person. It has been a team effort.

"Brian's very passionate about relay and all the work and thought he puts into it," said Milpitas resident Carla Kearin, event chairwoman for 2009 and 2010. 

"I'm glad to hear that he's firefighter of the year. It's well deserved," said Knight.

For Bruce, helping the community during emergencies or by raising money for cancer prevention is what he does.

"I'm just doing my job," he said.

The 24-hour event and fundraiser takes place June 18  starting at 10 a.m. at the Milpitas Sports Center.