On Feb. 17, 15,075 pink-clad fans filled Coleman Coliseum for Alabama Gymnastics’ 8th annual Power of Pink meet, and I want to express my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to everyone who has been a part of the phenomenal success of this vital cause over the past eight years.

As was detailed in The Crimson White’s amazing coverage during “pink” week, since its inception, no one I have approached about the Power of Pink has ever said no. Thank you to The Crimson White’s editor-in-chief Victor Luckerson, sports editors Tony Tsoukalas and Marq Burnett and sports writer Marc Torrence for helping tell the Power of Pink story.

Thanks go to Rita Martin and Robin Kelley, who help coordinate all things pink, as well as Professors Craig Wedderspoon and Jamey Grimes of the UA Art Department, Duane Lamb, UA’s assistant VP for Facilities and everyone on the Alabama campus who spent so much time and effort lighting Coleman Coliseum, Denny Chimes, the Ferguson Center Fountain and the Rec Center pink.

My sincere appreciation also goes to the Athletics Department Administration and staff for their incredible support of this vision. I am also grateful to everyone who helped create the amazing atmosphere inside Coleman Coliseum, including the Gym Jammers pep band under the direction of Josh Walker, the UA cheerleaders under Jennifer Thrasher and the incomparable voice of Alabama Gymnastics, Tony Giles.

Special thanks also to all the UA student-athletes and the sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha for helping “light up the night” by setting up the DCH luminaries.

I am also thankful for all our fans who, since our first breast cancer awareness meet in 2005, have continued to “Think Pink and Wear Pink” as they fill the Coliseum. You all are such a big part of the reason that we are “perfect in pink,” as the Tuscaloosa News said in its great “GymDay” section.

To our wonderful alumni, who ask every year to have their reunion coincide with our “pink meet” so they can be a part of a cause that has come to mean so very much to them. Ladies, David and I cherish the championship legacy you have built here at Alabama, but more than anything, we love seeing the confident, accomplished women you have become, and the relationships we have maintained through the years.

To say that I am continually amazed by the generosity of David DeSantis and the employees at Tuscaloosa Toyota, as well as Michael Anderson from Advision, is a vast understatement. I am so thankful for their ongoing support of the Power of Pink, from our meet to the other eight Power of Pink events hosted by the UA Athletics Department this year.

I also want to thank DCH Health System CEO Bryan Kindred and the DCH Foundation’s Molly Baldwin and Casey Johnson for their support, as well as everyone who has helped raise $1.2 million for the DCH Breast Cancer Fund, which benefits disadvantaged women in the fight against breast cancer.

And last, but certainly not least, to the 18 survivors who were honored in the spotlight prior to the meet, and for all those in the stands, your courage and heart in this fight is truly inspirational to us all.

Sarah Patterson is the University of Alabama head gymnastics coach.