When you talk to Mary Ann Wasil Nilan on the phone you can almost feel electricity coming through the receiver. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious and you just want to know what kind of drug she is on and take a double dose of it. Turns out she is not on drugs anymore (Chemo that is). She has been cancer free for more than five years.

On February 4th, 2004, Mary Ann found a lump in her left breast while she was doing a routine "self breast exam" in the shower. She quickly arranged for a mammogram and an ultrasound for the next day—they both came back negative. The radiologist (in between bites of a roast beef sandwich) told her: "Don't worry about it. You are all clear. Come back in a year for another mammogram."

Mary Ann knew that she should be relieved by what the radiologist was saying but something in her gut told her that he was wrong. "I knew my body so well and I knew what was normal for me. What I was feeling was definitely not normal. I didn't believe him, I believed myself." She proceeded to tell the radiologist that she was going to schedule a surgical biopsy despite the results of the mammogram, to which the radiologist responded: "Tsshh…fine, do what you want….you're fine." Mary Ann wanted to ask the radiologist: "Would you bet your testicles on the results?" Instead, she politely responded with: "Thank you."

The radiologist was wrong. Mary Ann went for a biopsy based on a gut feeling and when the results came back, it confirmed what Mary Ann had feared. She had cancer. The cancer had already spread to both breasts and to her lymph nodes.

She was only 39 years old, a mother of three, with no history of cancer in her family. She didn't smoke or drink and she lived a healthy lifestyle. Mary Ann started chemo on May 5th (her 40th birthday), or "Chemo deMayo" as they affectionatley refer to it in their house. She then suffered a stroke during her fourth chemo treatment. Mary Ann describes her journey with cancer as: "One woman, two breasts, eleven lymph nodes, eight chemotherapy treatments, five hospitals, eight surgeries, one stroke, two 10mm amplatzer asd devices in my heart, thirty seven months, one arm, three casts, twenty one physical therapy appointments, six fills, two silicone implants, double nipple reconstruction and $4,000 tattoos  - $591,846.33 (not including prescriptions!) My life…… priceless!"

As a survivor she disagrees with people who only speak about the lives they are going to lead after cancer. She points out that: "There is life right in the middle of cancer. I never felt more alive. You are never more alive than you are this very minute." Mary Ann views her cancer and survival as a privilege and as with every privilege there is a responsibility to help others. During her chemotherapy, while she was losing her hair and struggling to eat, Mary Ann envisioned creating an organization that would help educate girls on "Getting in touch with their bodies." Mary Ann is now the executive director of the GET IN TOUCH FOUNDATION.

The mission statement of this non-profit is to encourage gals of all ages to "get in touch" with their bodies, information, and each other in the crusade against breast cancer. "BSE Like BYT – Breast Self Exam Like Brushing Your Teeth – that's how we want girls to approach this simple way of getting in touch with their bodies. You don't think about it, you just do it because you know how to and you have to."

The GET IN TOUCH FOUNDATION is now partnering with schools across the United States and in three other countries to bring this straightforward yet revolutionary concept to girls grades 5-12. The foundation has created a simple interactive "Daisy Wheel" that is given to the girls. On each petal there is a different tip on knowing your breast. There are "8 tips for 8 straight years" of the Get In Touch program.

The eight tips are:

1) BSE Breast self-exam. Think of your breast as a daisy.
2) Look at your breasts in the mirror-hands on hips- tighten your chest. Anything weird? Discharge, puckering, dimpling?
3) Lying down, firmly press three fingers on your breast in a circular motion. Examine each petal.
4) Apply three different levels of pressure-light, medium, firm with your finger pads to check your breast tissue.
5) Use each pressure level (L,M, F) on each "petal" before moving on to the next.
6) Start by your armpit and move down to just below your breast, using the same circular motion in and up and down pattern, covering your whole breast. (Repeat on other breast.)
7) Sitting or standing, raise your arm slightly and use the same circular motion with your finger pads to examine your underarm. (Standing in the shower is a great place to do this.)
8) Did you see or feel something that worries you? Don't be embarrassed. Tell your mom, dad, sister, grandma, school nurse, teacher, your BFF. Talk about it. GET IN TOUCH!

Mary Ann set out to "Change the world one girl at a time." The foundation is growing faster than she could have ever imagined, with hundreds of schools in 24 states and three countries signing on to the program. However, the biggest boost will come from being featured in the February issue of OPRAH's O MAGAZINE. O's fifteen million readers will read about Mary Ann and "The Oprah Magazine Cover Girl Giving Beautiful Back Award" that she received. It is a $2,500 cash donation to the foundation and the priceless recognition of being featured in the publication.

Laughing while she talks, Mary Ann shares: "When they called from Oprah magazine to tell me I was one of the four winners of the Oprah magazine Cover Girl Giving Beautiful Back Award, I got up and walked to the window of my office and looked up and down the sidewalk, thinking I was surely being 'punked' by one of my friends who were bringing their little daughters to ballet class at the dance studio next door. I kept muttering, "get out of here, get out of here, get out of here..." The promotions manager that I was speaking to finally said, "I will not! You won!"

"When she told me that their 15 million readers were going to love reading my story and about the mission of Get In Touch, I burst into tears. I told her that the day before had been my five years cancer-free anniversary and I didn't think anything could come close to that...but the lives that would be changed by introducing Get In Touch and the Daisy Wheel to the world sure was a close second; then the promotion manager burst into tears."

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Bio: Writer, comic, filmmaker, and kick-ass mom Jennifer Rawlings has written a children’s book, magazine articles,including Reader’s Digest, television specials, and after dinner speeches for prominent world leaders. She has a popular blog every Tuesday on Hybridmom.com. Jennifer is a featured writer in the anthology book “I killed Road Stories From America’s Top Comedians” published by Crown. She is currently finishing a new book. Jennifer lives in Los Angeles with her husband and five children.