When University of Missouri theatre professor Heather Carver was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, she did not know if she would live long enough to see the hundreds of students, faculty and survivors gathered around campus, wearing pink t-shirts every October.
2025 marks Carver’s 20th year as a survivor. Since her diagnosis, she and her husband, political science professor Bill Horner, have done everything in their power to promote breast cancer awareness and advocacy across the university. Their biggest contribution so far is the Pink Photo. What began as a tradition in a classroom 19 years ago has become an annual, campus-wide event.
The Pink Photo takes place each October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Both professors invite students and colleagues to wear pink and form a ribbon formation while a photographer takes a picture from an aerial view.
Carver and Horner’s children were only ages 5 and 2 at the time of Carver’s diagnosis in 2005. After a stressful year of raising two young daughters while Carver was undergoing radiation, chemotherapy and surgery, Horner knew he had to do something to spark conversation about the impacts of cancer and how to show support to those struggling.
That is when the idea of a “pink photo” came to him. He got in contact with a photographer, and the first photo was taken in the Conservation Auditorium the following year with 500 of Horner’s American government students dressed in pink. A couple of years later, he and the photographer decided to start taking photos in different outdoor locations to involve as many people as possible.
“I think that the photo is a great opportunity to bring the campus community together,” Horner said. “Lots of administrators, lots of faculty and lots of the academic advisors all come out because there’s a number of them that have had breast cancer.”
Carver and Horner believe the Pink Photo is a time to demonstrate their support, not only for survivors, but for those in the midst of the battle. One of Carver’s friends recently had a bilateral mastectomy. Carver said she looks forward to sending her friend the photo so she can see that the students and future generations care.
“[It’s] such a busy life as a student on campus, … but it doesn’t mean you’ve forgotten the folks back home that might be fighting the fight,” Carver said. “[It’s] saying we know you’re here, these students know you’re here.”
Carver and Horner said the impact the Pink Photo has made on the local community and beyond has been especially meaningful to them. Every year, students come up to them and say they will be sending the photo to a family member or friend with breast cancer. In an era when people feel more polarized in their beliefs than ever before, that sense of connection has been grounding for Carver.
“You can’t go around a corner without somebody saying we’re divisive, that we don’t agree on things,” Carver said. “I think this is something we can agree on…People really want to do something to fight cancer.”
Both professors have participated in numerous other efforts to fight cancer over the years, such as fundraising, advocacy efforts and Relay for Life. Horner has been the faculty advisor of Camp Kesem, a student organization dedicated to helping kids with parents that have cancer, since 2010. Both of his daughters also got involved and made lifelong friends.
The couple hopes to continue educating the student body on breast cancer for years to come. Carver and Horner’s legacy does not stop with the Pink Photo; while it may be the starting place for anyone looking to get involved, it is far from the finish.
“Yes, he started [the photo] for me,and yes, he still does it for me,” said Carver. “But it’s not about us. It’s really for us saying, ‘Mizzou does care.’”
