Mary Ann's Story

My name is Mary Ann and I am a Breast Cancer Survivor/Warrior, Health Activist & Co-Founder and President of the brand new non-profit organization, the Get In Touch Foundation. Here is a mini-version of my story and a little more about why we are who we are…no “nutshell” is big enough, but here goes!

In 2004, when I was 39 years old, I found a lump on my left breast. I had a negative mammogram, an ultrasound and a surgical biopsy to remove it, and was told it was malignant. I had a lumpectomy and a sentinel node biopsy and was diagnosed with Stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma. I started chemotherapy on May 5, “Chemo de Mayo”, shaved my head on May 7 – my 40th birthday – had a stroke during my 4th treatment, had a trans-catheter-closure to repair the hole in my heart, resumed chemo, had a bi-lateral mastectomy on October 13 and had reconstructive surgery via tissue expanders. “Yeah, yeah, yeah”, many of you are saying…me, too. Well, Sister, you’re the reason “why we are”.

My girlfriend Susan (one of the coolest and smartest chicks I know) and I gave birth to the Get In Touch Foundation one morning while scarfing down donuts at Krispy Kreme. We are “women of strength” and were determined to kick this cancer thing right in the teeth and turn lemons into lemonade. We have five daughters between us and dream of a day when breast cancer is a vaccinatable thing of the past, (I’m not sure that vaccinatable is actually a word – but it is now!), but until then, we wanted to at least arm these girls with all of the information and tools they need to be as strong and smart as their moms! (We can teach strong and smart, however, we’ve told them that when it comes to cool, they’re on their own!)

So, we rally the troops, aka, all of the other strong, smart and cool chicks we know, and we share our dream. (We do have a few men on the Board of Directors, too, you should know, and yes, they are also very strong, smart and cool!)

We put our dreams on paper and made a “Wish List”. Our “Wish List” evolved into a Mission Statement that truly is a living document for the Get In Touch Foundation.

The Mission of the Get In Touch Foundation is to encourage gals of all ages to “Get In Touch” with their bodies, information, and each other in our crusade against breast cancer.”

How?

Well…five daughters, remember? We didn’t think we should wait until our daughters were women before teaching them the importance of “getting in touch” with their bodies, to know their bodies well enough that they would be able to recognize any subtle change and be comfortable enough to let someone (mom, aunt, school nurse) know when they did.“

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.

We’re going to teach them “how to” with the Get In Touch Girls Program.This program teaches girls to “get in touch” with their bodies through self-examination and will be developed by board members and members of the medical community. Materials, including a fun ‘Daisy Wheel’, will explain the importance of breast self-examination and facts about breast cancer will be packaged and sent to health educators nationwide. The information, and the ‘Daisy Wheel’, is then given out to 5th grade girls when health educators discuss hygiene and the girls’ changing bodies. We’re going to “change the world one girl at a time” with this super-cool global initiative, ready for implementation in October 2008!

Pretty cool, huh?!

Okay, how about all of the Cancer Survivor Barbie’s out there who are in desperate need of connecting with another gal smack in the middle of her Survivor Internship? The Get In Touch Gals Forum is just the place to go; a secure, password protected online network for gals in various stages of survivorship to be “in touch” with each other.

We even have a Get In Touch Guys Forum, for the guys with gals in their lives who are in various stages of survivorship – we want to provide the same safe space for men to support each other, too. Imagine the fear – whether husband, partner, friend, father, brother – and the questions that they might never ask for fear of being thought insensitive. Getting in touch with other guys with the same questions, the same fears, and to be able to do this anonymously – well, we’re certainly going to try to lead that horse to water!

Remember this…you don’t have to write a book or start a foundation to change the world. All you have to do is encourage the women in your life to get in touch with their bodies, information, and each other…in our crusade against breast cancer.