A Pennsylvania doctor rocks 31 different pairs of pink shoes to honor breast cancer patients

A cancer doctor in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is marking breast cancer awareness month by wearing a different kind of pink for each of the 31 days in October, and it’s more than a fashion statement.

Advocates say the color pink is linked to breast cancer because it symbolizes femininity, care, and solidarity.

Dr. Lori Alfonse at Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute has a lot of snazzy pink shoes.

“Each shoe has its own personality, its own shade, its own fabric and those are personality traits that are very similar to my patients,” Alfonse said. 

In honor of her patients, the surgical oncologist is wearing a different pair of pink shoes each day for October.

“I started out getting just enough for 31, and now I’m up to well over 72 pairs of just pink shoes. So I can wear more than one in a day,” she said. “You have 71 pairs of pink shoes. I do. I have a lot of other reasonably colored shoes too.”

This shoe connoisseur says there’s a serious side to her pink passion, a message of strength and survival.

“Breast cancer is not a death sentence. It is two words that represent many different types of cancers as individual as our personalities,” she said. “We have gotten very, very good at treating breast cancer. We still have a lot of work to do. But the vast majority of our treatments are tolerable. They are successful.”

Alfonse sported a light pink boot on Friday while seeing patients, always reminding them about the importance of mammograms for early detection.

She says patients look forward to her pink shoe show; it’s a special connection she has with them.

Dr. Alfonse says pink for breast cancer has a special place in her heart; her mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother all had the disease.