NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WTHR) — The loss of a sibling can be devastating, but one central Indiana woman is making her sister's loss her mission.
You've likely heard their voices on the radio with their catchy jingle: “Hi, this is Courtney Cole,” the ad begins. “And I’m Monica Peck — the Sisters of Savings at Hare Chevrolet.”
Those advertisements made their longtime Noblesville car dealership well-known — a slogan brought to life by Cole.
“She did a Facebook contest of how could we label ourselves so that people knew we were sisters since we had different last names, and that's difficult to explain. We gave somebody a free oil change who came up with the Sisters of Savings and in hindsight, they probably should have gotten a free car,” Peck laughed.
As common as their dealership became, so was Courtney's struggle. She fought lung cancer for years, despite never smoking.
"Never in a million years did the doctors think it was cancer,” Peck recalled.
Despite being a high school and college athlete and non-smoker, Courtney developed lung cancer in 2014, which became a five-year battle. She passed away in September 2019.
Monica decided to take part in her first Fight For Air Climb Fundraiser in March 2019 as Courtney’s health continued to slip.
"My attitude became 'she would love to take the stairs, but it's not an option for her, so let's take the stairs and do this stair climb and raise some money,'” Peck remembered.
They raised $38,000. Six months later, Courtney passed away.
"I still talk to her like she's here a lot. We ran a business together and raised kids together,” Peck reflected.
She’ll be taking part in the event again this year to both celebrate her sister six months after her passing and to fight this vicious disease.
"I think about her fight and her hardest days that she did, and she fought so hard, this cancer, and there are people fighting everywhere, this horrible disease, and you just hope for a cure so to not have to see a loved one go through it again," Peck said. "That’s where I think I find the strength in knowing that she's still right there with me in so many ways, carries me through everyday."
The Fight For Air Climb by the American Lung Association is Saturday, March 7 starting at 7:00 a.m. at the Salesforce Tower in downtown Indianapolis.
Registration starts at $45 and helps fuel the fight to stop lung cancer.
The climb to the top of the building — Indiana’s tallest — is 47 floors and 1,054 steps!